Images of 2005 Marion County Fair

This year Laurel volunteered to serve a stint at the Friends of Marion County booth at the Marion County Fair. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on at the booth last Thursday afternoon, but I still was deathly afraid that someone would stop and talk to me while I sat in Laurel’s chair as she was taking a restroom break. No one did. Laurel herself ended up spending more time talking to the friendly folks at the Democratic Party booth next door than to fairgoers interested in learning more about Measure 37 and land use planning.

Underwhelmed with the lethargy inside the Columbia building, I headed outside for a quick tour of the rest of the Fair, snapping a photo when a Fair-feeling struck. There’s something about a ferris wheel that grabs me. I think it’s the notion (and motion) of being effortlessly raised to the sky, heavenward, assuming that’s where heaven lies.

Fair food smells are intoxicating, bringing back lots of childhood and early adulthood memories of the time before I knew so much about cholesterol, trans-fats, and all that. But you can’t go back again. I decided to wait to eat until I got back in my car and could grab some soy nuts.

I fantasized bringing home a giant blue gorilla. Give it to Laurel. Say “I won it for you, honey!” She’d jump into my arms, all excited. Dream on. In reality, she’d frown and say, “Where do you think that is going to go?!” I kept my quarters in my pocket (well, probably it would be dollars now–haven’t played an arcade game for a long time).

I don’t know how many fairgoers thought about Plato’s parable of the cave—the things of this world being illusory shadows of the truly substantial Forms—but I did.

The petting zoo kept me captivated for quite a while. There’s always something going on. Like a head butt.

And a woman’s straw hat about to become a sheep snack (a petting zoo volunteer jerked the animal away just in time.)

And puppy wrestling, a crowd favorite.

The animal-human conviviality in the petting zoo was quite a contrast to the nearby animal jail. I can’t imagine that this longhorn enjoys coming to the Fair. Of course, I don’t know. Maybe he does. Something different to do. It’s hard to tell what cattle are thinking or what sort of mood they’re in. I just got the feeling that he’d much rather be out on the range. So long as it wasn’t a range where nasty stuff goes on.