Saturday, September 10, 2005

FUNNEL CAKE!!!

Yes, the fair is in town. I remember growing up and when the fair would show up - it would be the place to be. Not only while in elementary or junior high school - but in high school the fair took on another meaning. Because in high school, I was on flag team (don't laugh) and the fair brought on the parade that would put our high school against our local band rival. Our football team sucked so the pride of our school rested on us - actually it was the badminton team but for the sake of MY blog - its the band/flag team. For as much as I lived in a small community growing up, I now live in a small town and the fair really does take on a different meaning.

Let me do some comparison.

Then: The Grand Marshall was a local celebrity - like the news achor on television.
Now: The Grand Marshall is some old guy I've never even heard of.

Then: The Mayor rides in a classic convertible car and is respected througout the community.
Now: The Mayor rides in a classic car with 7 other people and owns the Wienerschnitzel.

Then: Floats competed for prizes and were adorned with various things such as flowers by volunteers who put in hours of effort.
Now: A flat bed truck has lawn chairs with pots of plants and flowers and a big sign that says "Flowers borrowed from Home Depot" (not donated...but BORROWED)

Then: The best entry I saw was this solar powered car created by some engineering students at Cal State Los Angeles.
Now: The funniest entry I saw today was a 1980 Nissan pick up truck with faded body paint and some women pushing strollers.

Something I need to mention about the local fair is that anytime it comes to town - it gets windy. And I mean WINDY. I'm not talking an occassional breeze - oh no, its gale force winds that force you to take refuge. The local joke is that if it gets really windy all of a sudden the first thing we ask is "Is the fair in town?" So this afternoon I took the Jakeman to the fair. Figured if we get there in the late afternoon, the wind wouldnt be THAT bad. (See the foresight I'm plugging in here?) Ok, so we get there about 5:30pm and the two things on our agenda are 1) Jacob getting cotton candy and 2) Melissa getting funnel cake. We arrive and its a little windy, not that bad but yes, rather windy. We do a lap of the area and scope out any rides the Jakeman may want to go on. Um, my parental radar immediately went off and tried to make the rides as scary as possible or told him that he was too short to go on. Yes I suck, but you all have seen the conditions of these rides!!! My child is learning the art of negotiation and I had to beat him to the punch. After a few games of bingo, we hit the cotton candy stand and then off to get my funnel cake. Now the wind is starting to pick up a bit. I get handed my funnel cake with powdered sugar and the wind blows some of that sugar on my black shirt - son of a gun! So I put the funnel cake down a bit and we head into one of the exhibition halls to get out of the wind. Jacob is walking behind me to hide from the wind and we duck into the hall. We get inside and I look at him and the boy is covered in powdered sugar!!! It was HYSTERICAL! And oh no, it wasnt just the shirt, it was arms, face, hair....yes, I didn't have a camera. Maybe I'll re-enact it for the webcam tomorrow and click away. After we finished, we started to walk around when the wind had become steady. I gave him the games or rides option and he chose the games. Won a few toys and it was time to go. As we were heading out - you could see the dust being brought towards you - it was so windy. Sucks living in the desert sometimes - ok not sometimes, all the time but thats a different post. At this point, it was so bad - we had to hide behind cars while looking for my car in the parking lot. I'm still cleaning dirt out of my ears.

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