The County Fair

Last night on the CBS Nightly News, the last segment was on county fairs and how in some places they are a dying breed as competition from amusement parks and just other activities in general are causing attendance to dwindle. In addition, only 2% of Americans are farmers, so not many people are even involved as far as showing animals, etc.

This past weekend, we went to one of the old time county fairs, located in Van Wert, Ohio. The first time I was there was 1991. Fifteen years later, it looks exactly the same. I imagine that 15 years before 1991, it also looked the same, and maybe even 30 years before that. A few booths may have gotten moved around, but the Fiske Fries are probably in the exact location they've always been. I'd have to consult my mom, she'd know. I know the Rager's sausage sandwiches have probably never moved.

Nothing all that special about the fair from this city boy's perspective. But there is a certain nostalgic flair to it that is easy to appreciate. No matter what's happening in the rest of the world, the Van Wert County Fair will always stay the same.

Dorene and myself aren't really all that big of fans of this fair. Maybe it's because we didn't grow up going to it, so there's no connection that way. My parents weren't able to go with us this year, so maybe that's part of it, because we missed hearing my mom's stories of old when she attended.

Our kids enjoyed the fair quite a bit. I was surprised that they enjoyed climbing on the tractors as much as anything. They also enjoyed looking at all the animals. They didn't really care that much about the carnival rides, which was fine by us since these rides are put together in 5 minutes. But we were glad to not hear a constant refrain of "more rides" and "more food." The tractors were probably a highlight. On one tractor, Cameron started pulling all the buttons and levers and one time the tractor suddenly began to start. He looked at me and said, "oops" because he was surprised as all of us. He made Uncle Steve go on every last tractor, as did Anna (who I wouldn't have thought would have enjoyed this as much as she did).