Terrorism can't take away carnival fun of fair

Terrorism couldn't take away the smiles and laughter of countless children enjoying life on the carnival rides at the SEMO District Fair.

In a way, this year's fair was a blessing, a visible monument to the fact that family life goes on even in the worst of times.

Our children love the carnival rides. Becca and Bailey couldn't get enough of those crazy, whirling, dipping, spinning, turning, churning rides.

It also helped that we had gone by the bank. It isn't cheap to ride all those rides.

The midway is the fair for kids like Becca and Bailey. Never mind that this is an agricultural fair. Its history is rooted in the showing of everything from hogs to okra.

Joni and I like to walk through the livestock barns and gaze at the mules, sheep and hogs. But Becca and Bailey would prefer to defy gravity on the midway.

They love the carnival. They would have camped out there if we would have let them.

There's nothing like a fair to bring out the best in people, or at least their cravings for funnel cakes and cotton candy.

But with Becca and Bailey, a little kettle corn can go a long way. They'd just as soon skip the food and spend more time on the rides.

When you're 5 like Bailey, there's nothing so grand as going around in circles on the merry-go-round, sliding down slides or meandering through a mirror-walled fun house.

Becca, 9, likes the rides too, although she prefers some of the bigger rides like the Pharaoh, an Egyptian-ship-styled ride that swings its giddy passengers high into the air. It helps to have a cast-iron stomach for this ride.

The job of parents during fair week is to stand by and make sure that your children aren't launched into outer space. You do a lot of standing around talking to other parents.

Of course, you try to look interested. But after you have visited every ride five or six times, you get a little tired of it all.

At least during the night, you can look at all the colorful lights. And you can smile at your youngster as he or she spins around and around.

You wave the wave. You know the one I'm talking about. As a parent, you have to wave. It's expected. Otherwise, you just look foolish standing there gazing intently at that dragon roller coaster that sits up barely higher than your head.

Of course, there are other ways to look foolish. You can enter a garbage truck in the fair parade.

I realize that the fair is a manly event. There's lots of tractors and heavy equipment on display.

But this year's fair parade included a sanitation truck carrying a commercial trash container for all to see. Suffice it to say, it wasn't the highlight of the parade.

Becca and Bailey weren't interested in the trash container. They liked the marching bands and the candy that was thrown their way. For them, fair week was a treat.

When two kids can have that much fun, it takes your breath away, not to mention your money.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.