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The Nostalgic Pleasure Of A Country Fair
When you are young, summer is all about long lazy days and being out of school for a few months. If your childhood was spent in a small town, summer also meant going to the annual country fair. And country fair time was the basis of some of the happiest memories you have.
Of course, the first thing to do upon arrival at the fairgrounds was to head for the cotton candy stand. There, for a modest sum, you got a huge ball of pink fluffy sweetness guaranteed to turn you and everyone close to you very sticky. It was as much fun to watch it being spun out of the cotton candy machine as it was to eat it.
The Ferris wheel was the next stop, and once the safety bar was in place you held on tightly with cotton candy-sticky hands. Round and round you went, and if you were lucky it would stop for more passengers while your car was at the top. The view from up there was as exhilarating as the slightly rocking car was scary.
Even more fun than the Ferris wheel were the game booths on the fairway, where you could try to knock over bowling pins with soft balls, or toss metal rings the size of mens wedding bands onto revolving wooden posts. Neither these nor any of the other games was as easy as it looked. But the prizes were wonderful, so of course you had to try.
Perhaps either skill or luck, or most likely a combination of both, would let you win enough points to get a prize. There were so many to choose from, and it was hard to decide between the fuzzy stuffed purple dinosaur and the glittery plastic fake crystal necklace. Then there were beanie caps with propellers, and crazy spiral eyeglasses. It seemed to take forever to make a selection.
All that exertion demanded some refueling, so it was on to the hot dog stand or possibly the fresh baked pretzel vendor. But the hot buttered popcorn was calling you from across the way also. As with the game prizes, there were so many choices and too little time.
Down the way the rodeo was about to begin, and you went over to watch as the clown warmed up the crowd with some juggling and other antics. You thought how cool it would be to work at fairs year round, being a clown and making people laugh. But then you noticed that the clown was wearing scuffed brown boots that looked exactly like the ones your seventh grade teacher always wore.
Tired and sunburned, but very happy, you finally went home with wonderful memories of another fun country fair. Untroubled by an overfull stomach, you were drifting off to sleep almost before your head was on your pillow. But just as you fell asleep you thought again about your seventh grade teacher and wondered just what he spent his summer doing.
Amanda Lepore – Cotton Candy