Nicholas got his first taste of the fun that is the state fair. Mommy and Grammy have typically made the Winn-Dixie four cans for free admission day their annual pilgrimage to the fairgrounds. Given how much Isabel and the lousy economy have depleted the food banks around here, it was nice seeing a few of deuce-and-a-half trucks well on their way to being filled with canned goods.
We don’t know if the story made the national news, but this year’s fair was made a bit more interesting. The state fair is run by the NC Department of Agriculture and last year’s fair was handed to a different company (Amusements of America) from the company that had been running it for fifty years (Strates Shows). A few months after the fair, it became patently clear how this came about…illegal campaign contributions to Meg Scott Phipps and her deputies, illegal loans, the whole sordid nine yards. The governor doesn’t actually have the power to fire her (the council of state is elected) and she hung on for a few weeks but finally bowed to the inevitable and resigned when it became obvious she was going to get a trial on state and federal charges. So four months before this year’s fair, the bidding process was thrown open by the new agriculture commissioner and Strates Shows won the bid and had to put on the show on much shorter notice than is normal. They seemed to do just fine!
There are things we tend to do at the fair:
- It’s pig-out day on fair food. The usual favorites are ostrich, gyros, funnel cakes, and french fries. If you’re on a diet, forget about eating there…it’s not good for you but you’re at the fair so who cares, eh? Forget the shrimp fried rice, though…it was bogus at best!
- Cruising through the Village of Yesteryear where they bring in artisans from all over the state and scoring some glycerin soap at the very least. Daddy’s favorite booth is the musical instrument maker (the daughter has a lovely voice, by the way) and this one booth where the guy carves intricate wooden wall plaques (ironically enough, his booth’s name plaque is quite pedestrian).
- Popping through the children’s barnyard which has chickens, turkeys, geese, bunnies, goats. If it’s on a farm, it’s probably in there. I can’t wait to see how the pictures come out…we got good ones of him with the goose and the goat.
- Drooling over the hot tubs arrayed at one end of the midway. Unfortunately, it’s not just the price of the tub you have to factor in…you have to put in the concrete pad and run 220V electric service out to the tub. But it’s nice to dream…and drool! When we get a tub, it’ll more than likely be at the fair…they tend to really cut the prices on the tub.
- Wandering through the cake/crafts exhibition buildings. The cakes are often really nifty and involved. Last year, they had one in the shape of a recliner. Our personal best of show this year was the handbag with all of the accessories and the frog king (the latter was really amazing…imagine a cake in the shape of a ball decorated as a frog with a crown…really creative stuff). We also tend to run through the art exhibit in the Scott building. For all of these venues, we usually end up questioning just what sort of algorithm the judges use when handing out their ribbons… 🙂
As you can imagine, it’s a lot of walking, gawking, and talking…but mostly walking. Other than Nicholas, we approximated the mummy walk on the way back to Carter-Finley stadium to our respective vehicles (through a fluke, we ended up in the same lot which was right convenient).
The only downer is that they didn’t have the rubber ball bingo game that Mommy and Grammy prefer this year. Even though it’s awfully annoying when you’ve got four in a row and the ball bounces madly round the fifth until someone else yells BINGO! Grrrr….
Nicholas was a real trooper, though. When he wasn’t sleeping, he was fascinated by all of the pretty lights. And we’ve got an idea of which rides Nicholas will be riding next year. Boy, have the times changed since Daddy went to the Mississippi State Fair…back then, $20 was far more than you’d even need at the fair for all of the rides you could stand…now, it’s $30 and that equates to about five-eight rides depending on which ones you’re riding. As an example, Fire Ball (a free-swinging pendulum ride) is six tickets at $0.75 a ticket. Ouch!
I think it’s a safe bet we’ll be there next year on Winn-Dixie day. 🙂