Posted by wxii12.com blogs at 9/26/2007 10:47 PM
Top 5 reasons I love the Dixie Classic Fair:Every year since I moved here 6 years ago, I have been able to experience one of my now favorite things in Winston-Salem. It is the Dixie Classic Fair. The first year I was here, I hopped in the car with the television “fair veterans” and we took the cameras, tripods, and lights to the fair for a week full of live weather during our evening newscasts. I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’d only been to the State Fair in Columbia, SC once in college. But even on my first visit to the Dixie Classic Fair, the sights, smells, and memories came flooding back.
Here are the Top 5 reasons I love the Dixie Classic Fair:
1. The people. From all walks of life they gather to eat all they can eat, ride all they can ride, spend all they can spend, and yes go home with a large stuffed animal prize- or at the very least, a bag of cotton candy. The fair brings together everyone and I do mean every one. It is this collective mass that brings me great joy when I am there. With such diversity in our society; unfortunately there are so few opportunities for us to be together as one. I can think of only one other place where I have experienced this– Churchill Downs Derby Week — and it is also still one of my favorite things.
2. The food. In a word “YUM”. If it’s fried, I’m all for it. If it has lots of sugar, I’m in. That’s why I love the flavors of the fair. Fried dough, fried oreos, fried snicker bars, fried milky way, and yes fried twinkies. Did I mention sugar… there’s cotton candy, candied apples, caramel apples, ice cream, and chocolate covered corn to name a few. It’s the only time I allow my children to make a meal out of junk. Why not, it’s only Fair!
3.The music. I love the music that blares from my favorite ride which goes by a number of names. It’s the one that goes round and round to the loudest music I have ever heard. Then it spins you backward… thumping all the way. It’s the ride that makes youngsters scream, entices teenagers and young adults to get close– often too close as one poor sap always gets crushed because he/she chose the outside position in the car! Centrifugal force it’s called. That leads me to the older adult, who chooses to ride with a child in tow while screaming and singing along. Or perhaps the other spectrum… the adult who walks by as quickly as possible- hands firmly clamped over his/her ears. Warning: this could be a sign that you’re headed for the next ride called– “Over the Hill”.
4.The midway. It’s all abuzz. The microphones, the barking, the music, the pops and swirls blurting out of the games as you pass by. Our family favorite is the water gun race. My husband is a multiyear champion. He has yet to disappoint me or the kids. Needless to say, we have more stuffed animals than we need, and find a way to donate them every year.
5. The farm animals. I am not a farm girl, but the fair makes me wish I was. I don’t know that I’d be any good at it. I don’t particularly like the way pigs and goats smell, and I don’t like to have them lick food off of my hand. (I’m a germaphobe that way. I know what you’re thinking…they’re cleaner than the keyboard I’m typing on right now!) I do love to look at them and talk to them. The cows are my favorite. I’ve milked a cow before, and that’s pretty cool. I have really come to adore the farm life at the fair now that my young boys can experience it with me. They touch, smell, point, and talk to the animals, shouldn’t we all?
I’ll be at the fair, and I’ll be looking for you. Let’s share a fried sweet treat why don’t we? And if you have time, use our comment line below to share some of your favorite things at the Fair with me here online.
Lanie
