County Fair

The other night we went to the county fair. I always look forward to the fair because it represents the downslope of summer and the coming of the autumn. It also represents a chance to grab some wholesome, healthy, low-cal fair food. This year the fair food star was something called the “porktato”. This prize winner is a baked potato filled with bacon bits (bits are better because  there are obviously fewer calories in a bit), shredded cheese, a scoop of sour cream, a scoop of butter, all topped with pulled pork and barbecue sauce. Like I said, pretty wholesome  stuff.

It’s also fun to just walk the fair and observe all of the countless sights and human interactions taking place. It always seems to me that mirth and melancholy seem to walk hand in hand down the midway. I remember a couple of years ago passing the Army recruitment booth. A young guy was there showing off for his friends and the recruiter on the chin-up bar that they had rigged up in the booth. It was one of those snapshots in time that seems to come wrapped in melancholy as I wondered what might be waiting for him out there. Thinking about it led to my eventually writing about Funky’s stepson, Cory, enlisting and being deployed in Afghanistan. Which then led to my home front story about Holly hunting down comics to complete her son’s Starbuck Jones collection which concluded last week with Comic Con and a home town garage con that I mentioned in my last post. All of that rolling out from just a passing moment at the fair.

That particular story arc will wrap up next year *SPOILER WARNING*… naw, I’m not going to tell you what happens. But I will say that as we were walking through this year’s fair, another one of those moments occurred, and some notes on it are sitting next to my drawing board. Probably another reason why I always enjoy dropping in on the fair. That and the “porktato”.