Piggin' out at the fair

As summer quickly comes to a close, students, families and townies start preparing for the next school year.

Final vacations are planned, the sweet days to sleep in count down and the month of July slowly draws to a close.

However, before giving up on these beautiful July days, the residents of Monroe County rally together for the grand finale of the summer: the Monroe County Fair.

The fair has been a staple of my childhood for as long as I can remember. I can recollect being led by the hand as a child around the wondrous world that is the fair.

But while the fair brought great wonderment, it also brought the final countdown to school.

Therefore, I always took comfort in the fact that the fair offered a time and place free of the ticking bomb that is the end of summer. I could instead enjoy animals, fair food and demolition derbies.

Now, returning to the fair a little older but still a kid at heart, the fair was a blast from my townie past. Seeing the fair after a year away was like stepping back in time — everything was exactly as it had been for years.

All the food stands are in the same place. The animal barns all house the same animals, and per usual, a wild collection of flannel-clad farmers was to be found everywhere.

Now, if you are a student who has never ventured past the Sample Gates, a trip to the fair will be quite shocking. The majority of the people at the fair are not the type of people you will encounter on the streets of downtown.

The fair is like a bat symbol that pulls out all sorts of people from the Monroe County woodwork. There you will find a brilliant cornucopia of Monroe County culture: country folk, rednecks, hordes of teenagers and the occasional lost-looking student.

However, do not let the prospect of strangers deter you from going, because even if you aren’t interested in seeing the animals — but believe me, it’s worth it — the food alone is will make the fair worth your while.

On the fairgrounds, you can find any number of foods — tenderloins, corn on the cob, ice cream, corn dogs, fried anything, elephant ears, french fries — and that’s just what I ate this year. The list goes on and on.

One year, to capture the sheer amount that my friends and I eat at the fair, we kept a food photo journal. I don’t think I need to tell you that the result was massive in quantity. Dozens of pictures will remind us during the year of just how much we love the fair food.

So for any person looking for a glimpse of the other side of Monroe County agriculture, a great meal (or two) and an array of farm animals — take a trip to the fair and allow yourself to escape the pressure of the impending year.