Sunday, August 6, 2006
Went to a county fair yesterday. I love them - fresh air, cheery faces, turkey sandwiches, funnel cakes and fried oreos (oh they're so good), local crafts and business displays, local government officials, food contests, animal games and contests, etc., etc. I avoid the rides like the plague ever since a ride I took many years ago at the Palisades Amusement Park in which you stood, strapped in, and rotated left-right and around; I get queasy just watching most of the rides.
Yesterday's fair was in an upstate town known for its ultra-liberal character, a place where people and behaviors of all colors, types and sexual persuasions are welcome and encouraged to visit and live. Thus it was bemusing that simply getting into the fair was highly regulated and regimented. First, there were no instructive signs but when you got to the entrance, all set to pay and have fun, you were sent back across the highway (i.e., the side where you just parked and walked from), to pay admission (twice last year's) and be handed an i.d. band. Then you crossed the highway back to the fair - but you'd better cross precisely between the painted lines because guards with dayglo shirts yelled at you if you so much as stepped near the lines, let alone on or outside the lines. Then you got to the entrance and someone said, "put your wristband on!" but if you started to put it anywhere other than your wrist, you were told you wouldn't be allowed in. Wrist or nothing, no belt loops, no purse handles. I mean, come on, how many people do you suppose would rip their belt loops or take their pants off to pass wristbands out so someone could sneak in? The fair wasn't great but I'm not sure if there really were fewer interesting exhibits or we were just worn out from getting in. On the other hand, it was interesting to experience inflexibility and ridigity from folks who always assert and demand tolerance from the rest of us.
Yesterday's fair was in an upstate town known for its ultra-liberal character, a place where people and behaviors of all colors, types and sexual persuasions are welcome and encouraged to visit and live. Thus it was bemusing that simply getting into the fair was highly regulated and regimented. First, there were no instructive signs but when you got to the entrance, all set to pay and have fun, you were sent back across the highway (i.e., the side where you just parked and walked from), to pay admission (twice last year's) and be handed an i.d. band. Then you crossed the highway back to the fair - but you'd better cross precisely between the painted lines because guards with dayglo shirts yelled at you if you so much as stepped near the lines, let alone on or outside the lines. Then you got to the entrance and someone said, "put your wristband on!" but if you started to put it anywhere other than your wrist, you were told you wouldn't be allowed in. Wrist or nothing, no belt loops, no purse handles. I mean, come on, how many people do you suppose would rip their belt loops or take their pants off to pass wristbands out so someone could sneak in? The fair wasn't great but I'm not sure if there really were fewer interesting exhibits or we were just worn out from getting in. On the other hand, it was interesting to experience inflexibility and ridigity from folks who always assert and demand tolerance from the rest of us.
Labels: people, things to do
Permalink | 
| posted by jau at 10:07 AM
DADvocate — at 11:47 AM, August 06, 2006:
jau — at 2:50 PM, August 06, 2006:
| posted by jau at 10:07 AM
3 more:
DADvocate — at 11:47 AM, August 06, 2006:
That should be "of a fair".
Some people say I ain't got no good English but I try to watch my grammar a little. :-)
Some people say I ain't got no good English but I try to watch my grammar a little. :-)
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jau — at 2:50 PM, August 06, 2006:
Yer grammr is ok with me. Seams moor lyke typos.
Seriously, it just goes to prove that "good guys" and "bad guys" aren't especially obvious or easy categories - or even recommended, actually.
Seriously, it just goes to prove that "good guys" and "bad guys" aren't especially obvious or easy categories - or even recommended, actually.
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The interesting bit of trivia about this fair is that Heather Renee French, Miss America 2000, only never got better than 3rd place in the Miss Germantown Fair although she competed several times.
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