Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM
Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Artist: Nirvana
Mode of Consumption: Playing over the midway at the Carroll County Fair.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5ghIJDpPoe3CfHMGu71E6T?si=882353914b0b4988
I am sitting next to my cousin, Katie, at the Bingo tent at the Carroll County Fair. These days there’s a handful of people playing around the tables that line the outside of the tent. Most of them are my relation.
Thirty to thirty-five years ago, Bingo was one of the main attractions at the fair. Back then, they played for money so you had to be 21 to play. Our grandfather would arrive at the fair in time to play each of the twenty-five games and then the jackpot game where you had to blackout an entire card to win. The total for that was taken from the total earned for the night.
Those Bingo nights could drag until midnight, often with the final game played with a filled tent. You earned a ticket for every card you played that night, and my grandfather often played at least two cards a game. For every ten tickets, you got a card in the jackpot. When I got older, I could help with one of the cards, even if I couldn’t technically call Bingo or win the money.
It was one of the reasons I fell in love with the fair.
Sometime around 2000, the group that ran the Bingo tent struggled to get volunteers, plus I think some gambling laws changed which made the cost of the gambling license too high for any group to take over.
About a decade ago, a group from Polo brought Bingo back to the fair. Now, you get a ticket for winning a game, and then trade the ticket in for various dollar store prizes.
From the midway, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” begins to play.
“Hey, they stopped playing country songs,” Katie says.
“Yeah, now they are playing oldies,” I joke.
“Ugh, songs from our youth are oldies now.” She laughs.
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