America’s Microcosm: The County Fair

Today, we’re bombarded with a steady stream of pundits, influencers and anyone with a social media account (and occasionally Your’s Truly) telling us how divided America is. We’re told with much enthusiasm and fanfare how the death of America is upon us and we’d better be really, really, super duper and exceptionally scared lest we see our great nation die at the hands of <insert opposing viewpoint>.

There may be some truth to these grandiose statements of hyperbole designed to keep eyeballs glued to our devices, seeking another hit of Fear-a-mine (the dopamine hit produced by constant inducement of fear, a word I just made up) so they can serve up another healthy dose and cash the checks the side effects produce. But if we stop living in our own personal Fear Factor for a few moments and open our eyes and ears to the reality around us and attempt to think critically for juuuuuuuust a little bit, we’ll likely see that the Wizard’s of Fear pushing and pulling on our heartstrings are, respectively, full of shit.

This is something I’ve really tried to think about since I’m just as susceptible as you are to the deplorable Fear-a-mine. We all get caught up in the world according to “the news” but when I take the doom-colored glasses off, life, people, society and humanity are actually not perma-locked in shock of all the bad news that surrounds us. And this leads me to the point of this post (yeah, I know, finally). I went to the Clark County Fair yesterday and had a blast watching what I believe really is a microcosm of America. Bad news for the fear mongers: people were outside, enjoying a bite of Americana, with a large cross-section of their fellow humans.

I’m well aware that the local county fair, wherever you are, may not be your cup o’ tea and you may even make a snide comment or two at the expense of the intrepid fairgoer like myself. I can absolutely appreciate that, especially as many folks’ response to the question “did you go to the fair” is a stern “but there’s people there”. If funnel cakes and cooking demonstrations don’t lube your gears then I hope there’s another place you can get out and about with people to see that we’re not as bad as you imagine.

The county fair, wherever you are, probably has a little something for everyone, which is why it attracts people from all corners of life. Once you enter those gates, I think it’s hard *not* to find something that tickles your fancy. Food is the centerpiece of the Clark County Fair with numerous diverse culinary selections to choose from. I’ll suspend my usual diatribe on the American diet in this post since we likely only go to the fair once a year, so it’s alright to indulge in a gyro, Hog Daddy fries, 7 pieces of Mexican corn, an Irish sundae, three freshly squeezed strawberry lemonades, a couple thousand Dippin’ Dots (not the ice cream of the future, don’t @ me bro), maybe a pulled pork nacho and the pièce de résistance, a smoked turkey leg. Once we’ve throughly stuffed ourselves, there’s animals to check out, arts, crafts, concerts, magicians, science-y stuff, clowns, a one-man walking band, old tractors, reptiles (including an alligator you can get a picture with for the low, low price of $15), dogs jumping off a dock, demonstrations (no, not that kind of demonstration, get your head out of the news), hot tubs (CAN I GET A HOT TUB!), weight lifting challenges (my 16 yr old son cold-rack deadlifted 340 lbs, all the weight they brought, literally as the lady told him they start most guys at 180 lbs. He stepped into the hex bar, did the lift easily as her eyes got big. No big deal), $80,000 side-by-sides, rides, carnees and to get all of that yummy food mixed up, a giant slingshot firing people and their $50 (maybe it was $35) into the air as well as many, many other wonderful attractions to keep nearly anyone but the biggest stick in the mud entertained for hours. If you can’t find something fun at the fair I think it’s probably your own fault.

But Will, it’s just trashy people that go to the fair! Nah, I’m not buying it, that’s a copout in my opinion. Frankly, the fair isn’t for cheap people. Beginning with the tickets, $11, the fair isn’t a cheap endeavor, even if you attempt to limit your consumption. Whether it’s $15 plates of teriyaki chicken and kalua pork (worth it) or $10 for the not-the-future-of-ice-cream, $3-$5 PER RIDE, feeding a family and giving them an opportunity to put their life in the hands of a traveling band of mobile mechanics/carnival barkers, it’s not cheap to attend the fair. Again, we only do it once a year, so it’s like a staycation on steroids.

Finally, for me, the best part of the fair is the people watching. I get to see, as I mentioned above, the true America show itself off, for better or worse and I couldn’t be happier to witness it. Poor people, rich people, black people, white people, horse people (if you know, you know) all come together and dump the BS that allegedly divides us to flex their collective American Fun Muscles TOGETHER.

If we pull our noses out of the air, phones and zeitgeist, we see the incredible creativity, hard work, ingenuity, intelligence, cohesion (shoutout to the fair staff that pulls any fair off) of the great people that are fair participants, all so we, the fair attendees, can enjoy the fruits of their labor. This is what America is, great people coming together to show off their talents (I’m telling you, watch a legit elephant ear being made and you’ll see a genuine rival to Rembrandt) and accomplishments for an adoring public that’s been starved of these phenomenal events for the better part of three years. All jokes aside (yes the Rembrandt remark was a joke), I don’t think we’re nearly as down as many would like us to believe so go forth and conquer a turkey leg and appreciate just how amazing we are when we put our minds to it.

We gone!

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Email: William at manvsmood dot com