Monday, July 26, 2004

Columbia County Fair



 
How glad am I that THAT is over? My ego is too fragile to deal with the feeling of total rejection that comes with a performance as bad as the one my business put on this past weekend. So far this year, we have been lucky enough to have played to appreciative crowds at several of the events we’ve done. Some, not so much. But THIS one…this one in my own back yard, absolutely SUCKED. Granted, the weather was arguably the worst we have experienced in the three years we’ve been doing this (with the possible exception of one event in April of last year, where we had rain, wind, thunder, lightning, hail…I was expecting snow at any time…)

We had 100 degree plus temperatures smack dab in the meat of this fair. The two days—Friday and Saturday—that were supposed to generate the most revenue, were too hot for people to even leave their homes safely, much less sally forth to enjoy an afternoon at the County Fair. I was seriously wondering if they would cancel the rodeo, out of concern for the health of the livestock…(of course, they didn’t. Duh!)

One benefit of our horrible failure was, I got a chance liberate myself from the chains that hold me in my trailer, and wander out and about. I experienced our little County Fair in a way I had not been able to in previous years, when I had actually been working.

I’ve loved county fairs since I was a kid. Being a born and bred suburbanite, county fairs have offered me an insight into an agricultural lifestyle that has always existed right in my back yard but might just as well have been on another planet, for as much as I ever knew about or interacted with it. Baking and canning the fruits of your labors, growing grand prize vegetables, lovingly bottle-feeding a calf or a kid…all these things fascinated me, though they were as foreign to me as life in a ghetto in the inner city was.

I wandered through the "creative" exhibits. Photography, art, quilting, table settings, furniture making… They even have entries of "Lego" art from kids. And then there is the floral building. I can just picture the county’s most talented horticulturists lovingly snipping the finest blooms from their highly pampered plants to enter into competition at the fair. Does anyone else remember the "Andy Griffith Show" episode where Aunt Bea has the prize rose growing in her backyard, but Opie mashes it with a football before it can be entered in the fair?

I walk around the fairgrounds, soaking in all the sights, and I feel somehow connected with a simpler time, a simpler lifestyle. One that would probably drive me crazy if I tried to live it. But I can never resist an opportunity to immerse myself in that kind of nostalgia. I guess the "Bad Business" at the Columbia County Fair might not have been so bad after all.

11 comments:

  1. I am truly sorry it did not fare better for you.  Right before you mentioned the ghetto, I was thinking of it.  The first thing I remember a professor telling us in a Sociology class years ago, is how there are people in the ghetto who have never been to the zoo or any other of the city’s wonders just a few miles away from them.  That comment and realization of such an existence (to some extent at that time, mine) never left me.  Maybe next weekend will be your glory,---- it has been bloody hot!

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  2. Well, at least you were able to look on the bright side of things. I've lived in small towns, suburbs, cities, and the country. Like you, I don't think I could live the lifestyle that is propagated by the County Fair exhibits but there is something very nostalgic and I enjoy looking at all the stuff. Love the pics you shared, especially the cow. Thanks.

    :-) ---Robbie

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  3. For just a moment I thought you had worked the Allied Art Festival here in the Tri-cities but then discovered I was wrong.  If you come this way you'll have to let me know and Charley and I will come be customers!!  I like fairs, I love cows....I truly like food!!!  We are in like flynn.    :)


    Cute entry!

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  4. Sorry it was such a bummed weekend, however, that quilt is absolutely gorgeous!!  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the next event!!! Kristi

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  5. I'm sorry business sucked wind this last weekend, but the fair does sound wonderful.  There is something special, something unifying as well about county fairs.  They take me back to root values.

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  6. Well, I am glad you enjoyed your opportunity to look around at everything!  I love the fair too!  We have two within 45 miles (opposite directions) and Ab's going to show/sell a lamb at one this year.  We are both going to enter some photos for judging as well!  A few years back, my dollhouse won Best of Show!  I just wish it wasn't so dang hot when it's fair time around here!  So, I understand what you went through the other day!  Take care, Lisa

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  7. I am looking forward to attending the State Fair in a couple of weeks.  The Bluegrass Fair is just one huge carnival....sorry you did not have a successful stay, maybe next year! Ha!

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  8. You must be getting our heat--we are having record breaking COLD temperatures here. I am actually wearing a sweatshirt--in Kentucky in August. Whew.

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  9. This story was a perfect example of "when life gives you lemone...".  I'm glad that you were able to find some pleasure in an otherwise rotten weekend.

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  10. stole that quilt square so fast!  I are sorrrrry 'bout your event.  
    same thing is gonna happen to my play tonight.
    There are 8 people in the cast.  If each of them has one audience member, I will have to be pleased.  Isn't that sad?  8 weeks of rehearsal...

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  11. I'm sorry the fair didn't work out as you'd hoped -- but you got some great photos!

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