Where can you enjoy carnival rides, eat foot-long corn dogs & make your own slushies, go to a 1-ring circus, pet exotic animals, attend a concert featuring nationally known acts, watch a rodeo / tractor pull / auto race / bull riding championships, AND enjoy a day with your entire family? The Missouri State Fair!
I grew up just outside the State Fair town and let me just say I visited the Fair a LOT growing up! But I haven't been in probably 18 years (ouchy to my ego), until this year that is. And I have to be honest and say that I loved it! Keep in mind I'm a farm girl, that's been away from the farm a long time, but I still miss it. The wide open spaces, the safety to let your children play outside unsupervised, the smells of grass and hay (minus the allergies), and the quietness...oh the quietness.
Back to the fair...the MO State Fair began in 1901 in Sedalia, Missouri. Set on 150 acres, it attracts around 330,000 visitors from the Show-Me State and elsewhere each year. It's very rural and highlights agriculture and livestock; it's a bit hokey and a lot country, but it represents where I grew up and honors the extremely hard-working, generous, friendliest people on Earth...Midwesterners! Said with a bit of bias, but I believe it to be true.
Goodbye State Fair, goodbye Missouri. I'll be back soon...
photos via Missouri State Fair
No comments:
Post a Comment