Last night I attended the fair. This morning's Morning Call has a feature called Midway Callaway. It's about making cotton candy while wearing rubber gloves, putting it into a plastic bag and selling it behind a glass window. Brian (Callaway), that's not cotton candy, that's not a food joint, it's not even a midway. What I saw last night, despite perfect weather, was a sparse crowd on a sterile strip with glass and formica food trucks.
The night I took the attached photo, in the early 70's, music blasted from the hoochy-koochy shows. Andre the Giant easily defeated his opponent and Willie Restum held court outside the Beer Garden. Generations of Allentonians would gather once a year for a community reunion. I hope somehow there's still more to the fair than my aging eyes can see, and that today's children can still make a tradition out of it's current incarnation.
photocredit: stage on midway outside Hoochy-Koochy Show, Allentown Fair, early 70's, by molovinsky
Well, the monkey family went to the fair on the most beautiful night of the year last night,and it was wonderful. We saw freaks and weirdos, and that was just our fellow fair visitors!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do appreciate some amount of sterility where my food is concerned. Yes, the cotton candy is served in bags, but if that means toothless Joe never touches my son's food, so be it.
Our family had a great time last night, and we did catch up with many friends along the way. Times can and do change, but the fair remains. Despite its changes, it still provides a family a great time. (Although, we did drop $150 on all kinds of stuff last night for the 4 of us, so it ain't a cheap date.)
Our favorite attractions were the pig races, the mean clown, the rides on the midway (of course) and the crazy motorcycles in a barrel. OK, so there was no hoochy koochy shhow, but there was the world's smallest woman - watching CNBC again. To my kids, the fair was magical. Maybe that's what's missing from the fair for you these days, Molovinsky: you're not a kid anymore!
Good stuff, Molovinsky
ReplyDeleteThing I remember most is we used to go to the fair and the IMPORTANT thing was to see WHICH GIRLS got PRETTIER over the summer so you would know whose classes you wanted to be in when school started.
Monkey Momma could tell me I am not a kid anymore and be mostly right.
Hopefully, there are still boys who actually like girls and still girls who actually like boys.
I know they all still have to go to school!
I remember feeling like a big shot getting into those hoochy-koochie shows back in the mid 70s when I was only 16-17. I actually forgot about them, until reading this blog.
ReplyDelete