Since the Indiana State Fair was right here in town and I had a couple hours, I just had to stop by. Even though I don’t go every year, I couldn’t stay away this time. I’ve been adventurous lately and figured too that it would be a target-rich environment for photographs. I was right. One spectacle after another. What struck me after looking around a bit is the Fair doesn’t change very much. It could have been 1989 instead of 2009 and I bet it would have looked almost the same. The only difference might be that the tractor-powered trams are now being run on soy bio-diesel. I was thinking that even though I could take photographs and videos with sound, there is no way I can record the smells that are there to share with others. Grill smoke and food odors wafting from food vendors of every kind, mixed with the exhaust from tractors and carnival rides, intermingling with livestock, etc. It’s a unique State Fair experience for the olfactory senses that you just have to encounter firsthand to appreciate.
There’s a lot of different things to do at the Fair and everyone has their own favorites…but eating has got to be one of those things that just about everyone likes. The food vendors always seem to do well. People everywhere partaking in Corn Dogs, Elephant Ears and Curly Fries and just about anything else you can think of. The Midway seemed to be popular too. But I guess there are certain things that I’d rather see when I go. I like seeing some of the exhibits in Pioneer Village. For some reason, viewing images of days gone by is interesting to me. Part of our Indiana heritage. There was a blacksmith at work…and a horse powered sorghum mill. But to me the coolest thing was watching some guys run a sawmill that was being powered by a 100 ft long drive-belt hooked up to the flywheel of an antique coal-fired steam-powered tractor. And for some reason, I always get a kick out of walking through the cattle, hog and horse barns. I suppose as a city boy, seeing animals real time up close somehow grounds me again back to reality. And of course, I had to have a Lemon Shake-Up…even though they are $3 and I can make one for a fraction of that at home. It’s one of those things that you must have when you go to the Fair. I think it’s a state law?
The Fair runs through August 23rd. Plenty of time for you still to run over there. If so, you might check out the coal-powered tractor-driven sawmill. That still gets my vote.
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