A FLASHBACK MOMENT occurred today, riding on 6th St. past the now empty fairgrounds. The 2014 fair now in the books, I began reliving the fun of my youth at the LINCOLN COUNTY FAIR, here in our Hometown, Merrill. ....As a PRE-SCHOOL CHILD , Mom and Dad would take me to the fair. Up by the barns, was the horse ride, the one with about 8 Shetland ponies walking amidst, and tied to, a silver turn-style-like rotating bar. Mom had brought my red cowgirl hat for me to wear. So, l hat in place, Mom yelled from outside the steel fence that surrounded the horses, Hold on to that saddle horn real tight, Linda, so you dont fall off (my mom, always the optimist!) There I sat, feeling tall, in the hard and squeaky leather saddle, feet dangling above the stirrups. As the horse took its steps, my body moved up and down, to and fro, I held onto the saddle horn with both hands as Mom had instructed, the cords on my cowgirl hat swinging. This was clearly my favorite ride of all! Giddy-up! ......In 4TH or 5TH GRADE, my St. Roberts friend, Vicky Anderson, and I were finally old enough, by parental standards, to be allowed to walk to the fair alone from my house at 2204 River Street. With all of our babysitting money stuffed into our little coin purses in our pockets, we made our two-block journey to the fairgrounds. Upon arriving to all the excitement, lights and sounds, we decided to see how many rides we could go on before we got sick. Our choices were: first, Ferris Wheel, (pretty tame), next, the Scrambler, (where i got squashed because I got in first, ending up opposite from where the bar closure was), next, Tilt-a-Whirl (twice, even though my head was imprinted on the back of the shell from the force in the first ride), and last, the one that did us in, the Bullet! Yup, the one that looked like a two sided mallet...with two barrel shaped compartments on each end. It was our demise! Our big adventure landed us on the floor at my house, sicker than dogs, hours later, still reeling from the series of rides we had been on. (I feel sick just writing this! ) ....As TEENS, the fair was the event of the summer, the place to find guys and meet friends. Wed walk the midway from the horse barns down to the grandstand, turn around, walk back, veering off to the left when the midway split. This was the game side, where we could always find lots of guys trying to win stuffed animals. The objective was for us to see if we could get some cute guy to give us one of those stuffed animals to parade around the midway with, then take home. The big teddy bears were the real prize, but getting a smaller one or even a furry, orange or lime green snake, was just as fun! Sometimes it worked, sometimes not! I cant say that I was able to fill my bedroom full of them, but I was able to get a few over those teen years. ......Home for COLLEGE SUMMERS, the fair was the event to relieve us from the tedious boredom of our summer jobs. My jobs were: cutting weatherstripping for windows, and folding boxes at the Beanery! The fair was the ultimate meeting place for all of us who were away at college, to see everyone we never got to see the rest of the year. We could all drink at 18 then, so most of the night was spent at the beer stands, the rest, strolling the midway, beer in each hand, chatting it up with everyone. (There were no fences.) Fair nights were full of light hearted fun, continuous laughter, yelling to people on the midway and a lot of flirting! Many great friendships were made, and college experiences shared in our college summers on those balmy summer nights at the fair! ......So, my ride down 6th Street past the empty fairgrounds after the fair this week, evoked some FLASHBACK MOMENTS, memories of a lifetime of fun, memories that I, and generations before me, keep close. The tradition lingers still of those four special days in July, when an empty half of a city block was transformed into a bustling sea of people, carefree, having fun and enjoying a moment away from it all, escaping reality, to be themselves, at our fair, our Lincoln County Fair, in our Hometown, Merrill. (Linda English Kautza)
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 04:05:43 +0000
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