Thumper
04-23-2021, 09:05 AM
I realize I'm OLD now and interests change, but yesterday was just a reminder of how things have changed in my lifetime. As a kid, growing up, the State Fair was a BIG deal and we looked forward to it coming to town every year. I remember we had "Fair Day" which was one day during the week when they'd actually close the schools and school kids were admitted into the fair for free. I did most of my growing up and attending the fair in Orlando, but if my memory serves me correctly, the last State Fair I attended was as a high school student in Memphis ... which was basically the same fair experience I remembered from Orlando.
Well, the State Fair is always a big deal here every year and it's here now. I've been needing a break from the stress of dealing with my brother's death and TRYING to untangle his personal affairs, so Lynn noted yesterday was "Veteran's Day" at the fair and all vets received free admittance, so she suggested we go. I don't get around as well as I used to and on some days, I can barely make it to the mailbox and back, but figured we'd attempt it and I'd see what I could do, so we headed to Tampa. We stopped for an early lunch at one of our favorite Mexican joints on the way so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the junk food at the fair. It's just a little hole in the wall and we're usually the only non-Hispanic customers as it's located in Plant City, a small farming community (strawberries mostly) and many migrant workers end up settling there. It's REAL Mexican food, not TexMex (whatever that is) or "Americanized" Mexican food. I even made a comment to Lynn as we were awaiting our meal that if you look around and didn't know where you were, you'd swear you were in a small local eatery in Baja or the Yucatan! Even the menu is in Spanish, but we manage just fine. Anyway, we had our meal and proceeded on to Tampa to the fair.
What a let-down. It was NOTHING like I remembered as a kid. I was able to realize I'm not a youngster any more and my tastes in entertainment have changed, but this was no frigging State Fair IMHO. They had a couple of ferris wheels, one claiming to be the largest "MOBILE" ferris wheel in the world. Ha ha ha, I have no clue if that's true, but it just looked like any other ferris wheel you'd see set up at some local carnival. The other one was a "kiddie" sized ferris wheel. There was one VERY small roller-coaster, a big slide (where you slide down on burlap bags) and a couple of mundane rides I may have missed but were not impressive enough to even catch my eye. Then there was the "kiddie area" with various rides for the tykes, but I didn't even bother to see what was offered. Man-o-man, I remember, as a kid, the variety of rides was almost endless ... and they were cool! Heck, I didn't even see the classics like the Tilt-A-Whirl or even bumper cars. Very, VERY few games and the only one I actually noticed was one of those "guess your weight" booths where I considered trying to win a teddy bear for Lynn, but didn't want to get stuck carrying it all day!
I guess "freak shows" are no longer politically correct, as there were ZERO to be seen. No bearded lady, no fat lady, no Monkey Girl, Alligator Girl or Lobster Boy ... no lady with no arms who could thread a needle with her feet, no giants or midgets .... errr, I mean "little people", no "half man/half ape", Frog Boy or the reptile guy who looked like a lizard ... nuttin'! My all-time favorite as a kid was Popeye ... a guy who could pop his eyeballs out of their sockets and yank them back in. It would really freak the girls out!
12516
What happened to the tents with the jars of two-headed babies, "real" mermaids or three headed goats, etc? ZIP, NADA, nuttin'! No hawkers out in front of a tent yelling for people to see the snake lady who "slithered on her belly like a reptile!!!" ... all for "one thin dime!" Or the guy who'd stick a light bulb in his mouth, stick his finger in a light socket and light the bulb.
Oh, I almost forgot, I DID purchase a small cup of "fresh squeezed lemonade" .... for SEVEN FRIGGING DOLLARS!!! (PLUS tax). What I found odd, the lemonade was $7 even if paid with cash, but if you paid by credit card, tax was added. Hmmmmmm .... :huh
Let's just say, I was unimpressed and very underwhelmed ... and seriously doubt I'll ever attend another State Fair in my lifetime. Bummer .... :(
Well, the State Fair is always a big deal here every year and it's here now. I've been needing a break from the stress of dealing with my brother's death and TRYING to untangle his personal affairs, so Lynn noted yesterday was "Veteran's Day" at the fair and all vets received free admittance, so she suggested we go. I don't get around as well as I used to and on some days, I can barely make it to the mailbox and back, but figured we'd attempt it and I'd see what I could do, so we headed to Tampa. We stopped for an early lunch at one of our favorite Mexican joints on the way so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the junk food at the fair. It's just a little hole in the wall and we're usually the only non-Hispanic customers as it's located in Plant City, a small farming community (strawberries mostly) and many migrant workers end up settling there. It's REAL Mexican food, not TexMex (whatever that is) or "Americanized" Mexican food. I even made a comment to Lynn as we were awaiting our meal that if you look around and didn't know where you were, you'd swear you were in a small local eatery in Baja or the Yucatan! Even the menu is in Spanish, but we manage just fine. Anyway, we had our meal and proceeded on to Tampa to the fair.
What a let-down. It was NOTHING like I remembered as a kid. I was able to realize I'm not a youngster any more and my tastes in entertainment have changed, but this was no frigging State Fair IMHO. They had a couple of ferris wheels, one claiming to be the largest "MOBILE" ferris wheel in the world. Ha ha ha, I have no clue if that's true, but it just looked like any other ferris wheel you'd see set up at some local carnival. The other one was a "kiddie" sized ferris wheel. There was one VERY small roller-coaster, a big slide (where you slide down on burlap bags) and a couple of mundane rides I may have missed but were not impressive enough to even catch my eye. Then there was the "kiddie area" with various rides for the tykes, but I didn't even bother to see what was offered. Man-o-man, I remember, as a kid, the variety of rides was almost endless ... and they were cool! Heck, I didn't even see the classics like the Tilt-A-Whirl or even bumper cars. Very, VERY few games and the only one I actually noticed was one of those "guess your weight" booths where I considered trying to win a teddy bear for Lynn, but didn't want to get stuck carrying it all day!
I guess "freak shows" are no longer politically correct, as there were ZERO to be seen. No bearded lady, no fat lady, no Monkey Girl, Alligator Girl or Lobster Boy ... no lady with no arms who could thread a needle with her feet, no giants or midgets .... errr, I mean "little people", no "half man/half ape", Frog Boy or the reptile guy who looked like a lizard ... nuttin'! My all-time favorite as a kid was Popeye ... a guy who could pop his eyeballs out of their sockets and yank them back in. It would really freak the girls out!
12516
What happened to the tents with the jars of two-headed babies, "real" mermaids or three headed goats, etc? ZIP, NADA, nuttin'! No hawkers out in front of a tent yelling for people to see the snake lady who "slithered on her belly like a reptile!!!" ... all for "one thin dime!" Or the guy who'd stick a light bulb in his mouth, stick his finger in a light socket and light the bulb.
Oh, I almost forgot, I DID purchase a small cup of "fresh squeezed lemonade" .... for SEVEN FRIGGING DOLLARS!!! (PLUS tax). What I found odd, the lemonade was $7 even if paid with cash, but if you paid by credit card, tax was added. Hmmmmmm .... :huh
Let's just say, I was unimpressed and very underwhelmed ... and seriously doubt I'll ever attend another State Fair in my lifetime. Bummer .... :(