I grew up in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri, which is about 120 miles up the Mississippi River from  Memphis, Tennessee. The highlight of my autumns was that of going to the Midsouth Fair in Memphis. My mother will soon be 97, and every time I see her, I hear her repeat:

“Brush your teeth and comb your hair.
Let’s get ready for the Midsouth Fair.”

I grew up in a small, rural town, and going to Memphis for the fair was almost like a trip to the moon. Honestly, when I was a kid, we rarely left town, and going to the Midsouth Fair was an event. We would walk through every building on the grounds. We saw the exhibits of pies and cakes and pickles and pumpkins. And we would also go to the barns to see the prize livestock. When I was a kid, getting out of town for a while was a treat, and while we were at the Fair, we nearly walked our shoes off. The air around the Fair was laced with the smell of corndogs frying in oil and of cotton candy spinning on a wheel. There were carnival rides at the fair, and there were rides through the haunted houses, too. I’m ashamed to say that when I was a child, there was even a “Freak” show at the Fair. During the 1950s and 1960s, going to the fair was an experience.

When I was a kid going to the fair was as American as Mom and Apple Pies.

While more recent state fairs have also been large carnivals, state fairs began as a way to promote

agriculture and homemaking skills.

You might recall that Wilbur had the good fortune of becoming a pig for the fair, rather than one for slaughter. And that happened because he had a friend named Charlotte.

If you are as old as I am, you should also remember at least one of the movies State Fair.

Rogers and Hammerstein released a State Fair Movie in 1945, but they released another State Fair movie in 1962. The stars of that movie were Pat Boone and Ann Margaret.  I was 12 in 1962, and that is the State Fair movie that I recall:

 

A Fabulous Fair Alphabet is a Picture Book about the Fair, and it mentions both the agricultural and the amusement park aspects of fairs.

I recently lived in the state of Arkansas, which is one of the most rural of the states in the USA. While I was living in Arkansas, I went to a county fair, but hardly anyone attended. Like circuses, fairs are becoming things of the past. I hope that you are like me and that you are delighted to have been part of many things that are becoming extinct.