Meet Me at the Grange Fair / In Which I Win a Fish

In which we have grand adventures, and live a whole lifetime in one day at the fair!

Every August, it is an annual tradition that one of my very best friends and I meet at the Grange Fair. Sometimes - seldom - it is just her and me. Most of the time, I meet her and her mom and at least one or both of her lovely daughters. On this day, it was my friend, her mom (in visiting from San Diego, CA), and the younger daughter, who is 14. 

It was not an auspicious start. Oh no. Guess what it has NOT been doing for the latter part of summer. Yes, raining. So guess what it was doing on this day that we had chosen for the fair. You guessed it: it was pouring down rain! For those who are curious as to how it ended up camera-wise, I decided to risk taking my regular everyday camera, the SX 60 HS.

I watched the progression of the weather radar online before I left home, and it looked like the rain would mostly occur in the morning. We had plans to meet at the main gate at 11. But there were a few delays, and we modified that to 11:30. It was still raining when my husband dropped me off shortly before that, with plans to come and pick me up at 5. 

I got to the main gate before my friend, and took shelter under the roof there as the rain continued. I bought my own ticket and started chatting it up with the folks working there. As I sat down on a nearby stool, an older man asked me, "Are you married?" I said I was. "I am too," he said. "Let's both get divorced and marry each other!" I told him thanks, but I was happily married, and not looking to make any changes! 

He was a jokester, but he shared a more serious story, even though he was laughing as he told it. The day before, he had been hit and knocked down by a vehicle. The driver had been on the phone, not paying attention. The older man overshared a bit; he was basically ok but he ended up with sore butt cheeks from landing on the pavement, he said. Overall, he seemed fine, so we made light of it. "I'm not interested in turning this into anything other than a PG-rated story," I told him. And changed the topic.

Then my friend arrived, and she and her daughter got free admission because it was military appreciation day and she had remembered to bring her husband's military ID with her. General admission is typically $8, so that was a nice perk.

It was still drizzling a little, so we took off for some of the buildings where they have displays. We walked around and looked at children's collections, photos, vegetables, canned goods, quilts, and commercial displays. Then we headed over for our first snack of the day: fried veggies with ranch dip. I am partial to mushrooms and onion rings, so that's what I had. And you'll be happy to hear it never rained again during our visit!

The Grange Fair in Centre Hall is the nation's last remaining tent encampment fair. There is just one other encampment fair, in Mississippi, but it involves cabin camping. The Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi has 600 cabins and 575 designated camper spaces. Our Grange Fair, on the other hand, is much larger, with 1000 tent spaces and 1500 RV camper spaces.

We didn't spend any time at all among the tents this time, but we did manage to go visit some livestock. We walked through the goat area and the cow area, and I got a fun photo op when a bunch of children grouped together and snuggled up to a little cow. Children and farm animals. This is what the fair is for!

Our next snack was the always favorite Bissinger's peach dumpling with cinnamon ice cream. As I sat there moaning at my very first delectable bite, I said to my girlfriend, "Stop. SAVOR this moment." And we did. Good friends, good food, good times at the fair.

And here is where I throw in a warning. Be sure to take some cash along if you go because many of the vendors only accept cash, not credit cards! This point was hammered home to us as we sat down with our peach dumplings behind a lady who was there as an R.N. representing some local health agency that was a fair sponsor for that day. We asked how many peach dumplings she'd been forced to eat while sitting in her booth directly across from the dumplings. She said: None. She didn't bring any cash!

Of course, I offered to buy her one if she wanted it. It was only $7. But she demurred. Then my friend came back and sat down and SHE asked the lady if she'd tried the peach dumplings yet, and waxed eloquent about how delightful they were. I told her - this lady did not bring any cash! My friend instantly offered to buy the lady a peach dumpling, but once again, she demurred. I felt bad for her but I honestly would have just bought her one without even thinking twice about it. What can I say? The fair somehow brings out the friendlier, more generous side of me. 

We made friends everywhere! We stopped in the ladies' room by the fish game, and a very lovely black lady was the attendant. She was very spiffily dressed and there were flowers on all the stalls. She made sure that supplies were available, and pointed new people to open bathroom stalls. There was a little basket by the door and I popped a dollar in as a tip for the very nice lady. 

"Thank you, Doll Baby," she said. And my brain sort of went: WHAT?!? And I turned around and gently hugged her, and I told her - with damp eyes - that that was a nickname my father used to call me. We smiled special smiles at each other, and as I walked away, she waved and said, "Good-bye, Doll Baby."

There are things I didn't make it to this year. There is a tool tent we love, and my friends visited it after I made my departure. I didn't get to the Tupperware booth, which is a personal favorite. But we did get to see and do lots of fun things and treasure the time together.

At a certain point, my friend's daughter decided she wanted a fish. And there was a fish game by the bathrooms, as I'd mentioned. So we headed there, and my friend spent $5 to buy her daughter a bunch of white balls to toss at the little fish bowls full of blue water, to win a fish.

Well, suddenly, there was a teenage boy by her side, offering my friend's daughter a coupon for a fish! And even better yet, he asked for her phone number! My friend and I were about beside ourselves, especially as we noticed the boy's entire family was with him, encouraging him. I was afraid to breathe, lest one of us spoil the moment! 

But in the midst of it all, we did keep throwing those white balls. Underhand is best, is my opinion. Yes, I did a thing I have never done before. I tossed one of those white balls into a fishbowl of blue water, and won my friend's daughter a fish! So she ended up taking two fish home with her. 

She instantly named them Pumpkin and Spice, but I understand the fish have been renamed already, to Earl and Raspberry. I think this is the first thing I've ever won at any fair, so I've documented the moment by including (as proof!) a photo of my white ball in the fish bowl in the extras. A winner! I was a winner at the fair!

Way too soon, it was time for me to take my leave of my friend and her family to go over and meet my husband. We had walked almost nonstop from around 11:30 to 5 p.m. and I admit I was happily looking forward to sitting down in the car! We said our good-byes and hugged and kissed and said our I Love You's. And I'll see you again next year at the fair!

I realize the photos are both of games at the fair, which is sort of unusual for me, but that's the way the cookie crumbled this year, so there it is. As I get to it, I'll add some photo sets on Instagram and provide some links. I'm also adding this link to last year's fair photo and story, which includes - for the fair enthusiasts! - links to all of the blips of Grange Fair visits for years prior.

Let's have some soundtrack songs, so here are two. For the game above, I've got Peter Gabriel, with Games Without Frontiers. And for my photo of my wining shot at the fish game, I've got Santana, with Winning.

P.S. I am back to add this. I nearly lost my sole at the fair! We walked and walked and walked. And then my husband picked me up and we stopped for takeout. We got home, and I climbed out of the car in our driveway. First step I took, the sole came off my right shoe! It peeled off about 75% of it. Step. Flap. Step. Flap. What great timing. It would have been impossible to walk as much as I did with that going on. I wouldn't have wanted to remove it because I planned to glue it back on at home. So thank you, Jesus, for saving that little misadventure until I got home. Yeehaw!

Instagram links:
Quilts and such at the fair.