Fairs and Carnivals

Fairs and carnivals are predominant in most people’s memories – I am no exception.

CARNIVALS
Where I grew up, carnivals were more frequent and readily available – there was one going on at some town within driving distance every weekend during “carnival season” (pretty much all summer). During “carnival season”, every town held their Fireman’s Carnival to raise funds for their volunteer fire departments. These events were HUGE – not just a little carnival in a parking lot for a day – they were a big production that lasted all weekend, took each town all year to plan, and every town participated in each other’s events! They were always kicked off with a huge street parade with firemen from all over the region in full uniform and showing off their shiny fire trucks, bands from all the neighboring schools, baton twirlers, drill teams, cheerleaders, veterans, classic cars, horses, clowns, floats, and so much more. The parades were on the opening night and started on one end of town and progressed through town to end up at the fair grounds!!! Parade viewers filled in at the end of the parade to follow it to the fairgrounds and partake in the carnival fun. Saturday morning was usually a “Pet Parade” with kids all dressed up or in funny costumes parading their pets adorned with ruffles and ribbons and bicycles or wagons beautifully decorated with Kleenex flowers, streamers, and bows – it was great fun!!! The Pet Parade also ended up at the fairgrounds and afterwards the Saturday “kids” time with special attractions for children were held at the carnivals. Other big events during the weekend were hook and ladder competitions that the area volunteer fire departments participated in for bragging rights and trophies. Each town’s carnivals ran from Thursday thru Saturday and everyone you knew hopped from town to town doing the carnival thing every weekend – the question was never “what are we doing this weekend?”, it was “where’s the best carnival this weekend?” – some weekends there were multiple carnivals, but they were carefully planned so that towns within close proximity were on staggered weekends. The carnivals had the usual rides, games, winning of stuffed animals, food, food, food, food, food (did I mention food?), and a bingo tent to give adults a place to sit and relax while their kids enjoyed the rides and games. And then there was the “BEER TENT” – always packed and really turned into the place to be after about 10:00! By the way – did I mention the food tents????? There was hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, cotton candy, candy apples, caramel apples, sugar coated waffles, popcorn, and other local specialties — YUM!!!!

The best part about carnivals is that they pretty much lasted all summer – just moved from town to town – you didn’t have to wait for the once a year fair to get your fix of amusement rides and carnival food (I did tell you about the food, right?) and gave each town a chance to show off and shine for the weekend! Carnivals were my favorite and something I really miss…….

FAIRS
We also had fairs — the annual 4-H Fair that was put on by the various county’s 4-H Extension organizations. They also had the rides and the games, but they were a side attraction — the main events were the animals, the crafts, the food, the food, the food (I think I’ve made the point that I like the food at these things – ha-ha), the competitions, etc. Some of the fun events were the greased pole climbing competition, the greased pig competition, rodeo type events, the fashion show of fashions made by local 4-H club members, and other typical 4-H Fair types exhibits. Each night of the week long fair was a different “dinner” – people would go for dinner and then stay for the fair. Then – our county’s claim to fame was the “World’s Largest Apple Pie”!! They had a HUGE (I really mean huge – as tall as a building when standing on it’s side) pie tin that each year they made a big apple pie in to display and sell scoops of. It was quite an attraction!