A Prelude to Fair Fun!

We were driving home from a super fun evening in Portland over the weekend. We had capped it off with a late-night Voodoo Donut run, so my tummy was mildly complaining about the uncivilized amount of sugar I was making it process in the wee hours.

As we approached the exit for our county fairgrounds, my mouth started salivating. The craving for salty buttery cobbed corn was overwhelming.

“I think I might be ready for The Fair,” I revealed to the “no duh” Rob.

And thus FAIR SEASON has begun. WHOO HOO!!!! Two days and counting!

If you followed along last year, you might recall that I had a bit of a rough go of it last time around. Although I absolutely had immense moments of pure joy and delight – mostly involving foods on sticks and animals on leads – I also sort of wore myself out. In retrospect I spent too much time writing and not enough time Fairing. And so, as predicted, I have given up writing for the local newspaper this year.

Sending the official declining email a few weeks ago was a weird mix of relief and regret. I truly had a blast writing for the paper the past several years and meeting some new Fair Fans along the way. I am so grateful for the opportunity the paper gave me to share my love of The Fair with few rules, lots of flexibility, no editors…and free passes.

At least we get miles...

Yeah, I already miss those free passes! What I am realizing I will miss even more, though, is the free parking tag that hangs from the rearview mirror.

I LOVED not having to pay for parking. It came in especially handy when Rob or I had other obligations during Fair Week and had to come and go at times. Silly misguided people who don’t realize the world stops for The Fair.

But what I will really miss about not having that parking hang tag is not so much the cost savings but that it is a signal and symbol that you are a part of The Fair.

The people who have the parking passes are people with 4-H kids showing projects during the week, exhibitors, volunteers, employees. If you have a hang tag, you are in the club, in the culture. You are among the group of people who greet each other the first couple of days with “Have a good Fair!” Because you aren’t just there for a day, you are there for the duration. When I had that tag, I wasn’t just going to The Fair, I was The Fair. And now I’m not.

Criminy, I’m getting all teary eyed over a silly rectangular piece of florescent card stock. Focus, Toni!

So, yes, a few changes this year. No newspaper blog, no lugging around a computer in my Fair Swag cinch bag, no self-imposed list of obligations and have-to’s and shoulds. Just fun. Just doing what brings joy and laughs and not what I think might draw readers to the paper. I shall be enjoying The Fair this year instead of working it. YAY and amen.

I am also giving myself permission to go a little slower. I’m about half-way into my 6-month recovery from an ACL knee surgery and I don’t want to compromise the great progress I’ve made so far. So if I can’t walk as much or last as long or go every single day, that’s OK. Right? Right.

I still fully intend to break every food rule I make myself live by the rest of the year (oh, sour cream, I can almost taste you now!). But I am also giving myself permission not to attack every snack like it’s the last deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup I’ll ever have. Note again the cranky tummy post-Voodoo. Any bets on whether I can actually pace myself once I enter the Deep Fried Zone? I don’t really need to know what the stakes are; I’m just curious if they are measured in minutes or seconds.

One other addition – you can now also follow my view of The Fair on Instagram. I practiced Instagramming my annual odyssey of touring the county to slurp five free Slurpees on 7-11 Day, bringing a social-media-savvy teen friend along as a guide.

My Instagram foray was fun and successful enough that I plan to post daily…and probably repeatedly…from The Fair. I have no idea what I will post, nor if the photos will also appear in my blog here or if they will just have their own life on Instagram. We’ll find out as we go along.

If you want to follow the Instafun, you can find me under “its_the_fair” because some really annoying people already snagged the version without the underscores. And they aren’t even using their account. Sheesh!

So all of this is to say, the Fair Fun Train is about ready to leave the station again this year! Jump aboard and bring your appetite! Some things might be refreshingly different, some things might be comfortably the same, but rest assured it will be a greasy, hay-strewn, milkshake-infused, butter-dripping, grandstand-cheering 10 days of All Things County Fair!