State Fairs are our family reunions, class yearbooks

If there's one common denominator in our collective memory, it has to be the State Fair.

No matter what state you live in, no matter if you grew up in town or on a farm, we all have that smell of corn dogs, livestock and show adhesive permanently etched in our brains. We're like birds, flying in ancient migratory patterns, year after year, making our way back to the state fair grounds.

My first time attending the Kansas State Fair was more than 20 years ago, tagging along after my older siblings who were showing their Angus cattle in the 4-H show. A few years later it would be my cattle that were on the show schedule, and my older siblings who were tagging along to help me. Every year it was a battle to get the cattle and show tack loaded up, the camper packed, and all of the other projects ready for their State Fair debuts, but it was worth it.

And, after the cattle show, there was always time to see the rest of the fairgrounds. I loved to explore all the exhibits back then, and I still do today.

I have a set route of buildings I visit every year--first to the commercial exhibits, then the 4-H and open class exhibits, and finally the livestock barns. In between I stop to have salt water taffy, a handful of cinnamon almonds, a slice of fudge and the obligatory Pronto Pup. No State Fair visit would be complete without a fresh ear of corn off the grill, or that barbecued turkey leg either. And, I always save room for a scoop of real ice cream from the dairy farmers' ice cream stall under the grandstands.

Diets have no place if you're really going to enjoy a state fair, afterall.

I always set aside time in the afternoon to sit on a bench and people watch. I get a kick out of the microcosm of humanity that is a state fair. There are the groups of teenagers flirting on the Midway in an age-old courtship ritual, giant stuffed animals in tow, lining up for rides on the Ferris wheel. Over in the commercial buildings you see just married couples holding hands, looking at the various booths and building their dreams. And in the livestock barns, you'll see tired parents stretched out on show boxes and in folding chairs, napping, while their kids play around the stalls with their friends from across the state. Where else but a State Fair will you see bikers, and grandmas, and soccer moms, and toddlers and the other assorted characters all enjoying the same entertainment? From the annual pig races, to the guy who makes art out of a tree trunk with his chainsaw, you'll see everything at a state fair.

And, where can you find better shopping convenience than the state fair? On one parcel of land you can buy a pre-fab house, fit it for windows and siding, and buy a hot tub, deck and playset for the backyard. You can buy your vacuum cleaner, full set of cookware, and water purifier for the house, and fit it for cabinets and furniture. You can also select your outbuildings and the assorted machinery to fill them, and even buy a tornado shelter to match the silo that matches your barn.

If you can't find it to buy at a state fair, you just haven't looked hard enough.

Maybe the greatest thing a state fair gives us is its stability, though.

Every year, come the first weekend after Labor Day, you can bet there will be a State Fair in Kansas. The buildings may change, and things may be updated, but it's still the same fair. Families may grow and expand with new generations of exhibitors, but the fair never seems to age a day.

It's our family reunion, our high school yearbook, and our 4-H Permanent Record all wrapped up into one week of homecoming.

Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or jlatzke@hpj.com.

9/17/07

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