Juggling Ball

Fun And Games At The Country Fair

When you are young, summer is all about long lazy days and being out of school for a few months. If your childhood was spent in a small town, summer also meant going to the annual country fair. And country fair time was the basis of some of the happiest memories you have.

Of course, the first thing to do upon arrival at the fairgrounds was to head for the cotton candy stand. There, for a modest sum, you got a huge ball of pink fluffy sweetness guaranteed to turn you and everyone close to you very sticky. It was as much fun to watch it being spun out of the cotton candy machine as it was to eat it.

The next stop was likely to be the Ferris wheel, where you climbed into the brightly painted car and held on for dear life with sticky hands. You whirled around and around, and always hoped you would stop at the very top, your car rocking back and forth. You could see for miles up there, or so it seemed.

Next, on to the fairway where everyone wanted to try his hand at games of skill. One booth featured throwing soft balls at weighted bowling pins, which was never as easy as it looked. At another, small metal rings about the size of large mens wedding bands were tossed onto pencil-thin posts revolving in a circle. This was also a lot harder than it appeared to be.

If you were skillful or lucky enough to win at one of the games, there were fantastic prizes to select from. Perhaps you would pick a big fuzzy pink teddy bear, or else a chunky plastic imitation crystal necklace. Then again, it might be funny glasses with spiral patterned lenses, or a magic decoder ring, that you would choose. There were just too many choices.

All that exertion demanded some refueling, so it was on to the hot dog stand or possibly the fresh baked pretzel vendor. But the hot buttered popcorn was calling you from across the way also. As with the game prizes, there were so many choices and too little time.

Farther down the fairway, near where the rodeo would soon take place, a garish clown was juggling plates and otherwise entertaining onlookers. You briefly noticed that the scuffed brown boots he was wearing looked exactly like your seventh grade teacher’s. It seemed odd, but you forgot it a moment later as you laughed at the clown and thought what a great job he had, working at fairs all year long.

Finally that evening you went home, a little too full of junk food and a bit sunburned, but very happy. It had been a tiring day but a wonderful one too, with pleasant memories of another summer’s fair. It was hard to stay awake long enough to get to bed, and as you went to sleep you wondered what your seventh grade teach actually did during his summer vacation.

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