Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Time: 9:15 PM
Song: A Bar Song (Tipsy)
Artist: Shaboozey
Mode of Consumption: Playing over the midway at the Carroll County Fair.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2FQrifJ1N335Ljm3TjTVVf?si=a8d7aa7b831d4969
We strolled the festival grounds at the Carroll County Fair, each of us eating ice cream. Jodi had a cup of chocolate, and I had a hot fudge sundae, both bought at stand that used to be known as the 4H stand, but now has rebranded to some other youth ag program.
Each of us have been coming to this fair our entire lives.
We stop by a ride we both know as the Merry Mixer, but it has a different name with this carnival. Jodi’s cousin’s daughter Nora is riding, so we talk to her cousin. The ride comes to a stop and we watch a group of boys still seated on the ride. The one in the middle appears to be turning green and holding his lips shut as if he opened them more might come out than words.
Music plays. Lights of every color sparkle. The weather is fine. For after nine, there is still a nice crowd on the midway. The truck pull is still going on as the featured event.
The fair is in good health. Twenty-five years ago, when all three of us were getting out of high school, it appeared to be a dwindling event.
I don’t know all the reasons for its steady downfall in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I do know that over the last ten or fifteen years, it has steadily grown again. In large part it’s because of a new group of people taking charge and breathing some new ideas and improvements into the grounds. I think it might also be a steady increase in the area’s desire to redevelop a sense of community.
I’m glad. As I said, I grew up at this fair, and each year it’s a chance to reconnect with family and friends. It’s also a chance to revisit ghosts of the past.
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