Fair play

My wife, myself and the kids spent Sunday afternoon at the Allegan County Fair. It was overcast and drizzling, but it was our one chance to go as a family.

I love the Allegan fair. It reminds me of my younger days at the Erie County Fair. I spent a lot of time there when my parents worked the Masonic chicken dinner tent. I spent a lot of money there as well on silly games and rides. I even remember when the fair had the "freak show" aspect with the people who pounded nails in their nose or tied their limbs in knots.

The Allegan fair doesn't have that, thankfully, and most of the "freak shows" I see are the people walking around the midway. For me, that's the best part of the fair -- watching people, catching snippets of conversations, studying the faces and mannerisms of the "carnies" at the games.

We ran into several people we know -- it's still a small-town fair -- and that's great. One of them was a person from the Spanish class Jayne and I took last fall. We exchanged an "hola" and that was the extent of what I retained. I also saw a former reporter who recently left The Sentinel. She was waiting in line for tickets for rides for her kids. When she left the paper for a better job, she stopped by on her last day to thank me for the guidance I offered her and the things I taught her. That means a lot to me, especially in light of all the problems that are going on now at work.

The kids, like their dad at their age, went for the games and rides. This year, we are strapped for cash so we limitted them in their pursuits. They still had fun with the few games they played and they did get to ride the tractor -- it's the courtesy ride from the fair to the outer reaches of the parking lot.

Of course, we walked through the 4-H barns and Alyssa was tickled that she got to watch a cow poop as she walked by. Remember that we live in the country but live in a city. Figure that out.

Thought: Fair today, gone tomorrow.