Life as I know it...: The most wonderful time of the year!

Once a year, for three days, the town of Vermilion has a buzz about it that everyone recognizes and loves...it's fair time! The last weekend in July our small town pitches in and puts on the biggest and best small town fair around (and I am not just saying that because I live here...it's true!). There will be around 20,000 people to walk through the gates of the fair this year and many of those are people who come from out of town, just to enjoy what our town has to offer! There are RV's (including ours) parked all around the fair grounds a week in advance and there is no parking to be had by about 6:00 p.m. on any night of the fair!

The celebrations begin with a parade (and again, the best small town parade around!) on Thursday morning, which myself and my children (and one day home kid) had the chance to be a part of this year! We rode on the "Webb's" float (our family business), the same float I used to ride on as a kid. Mark has been riding on this float for the past two years, however this was the first time for Grace, Will and my first time in years and years! I wasn't sure how my kids would handle the job of throwing candy and waving at strangers (especially since they don't even like to wave at people they know and love!), but let me tell you that they did a wonderful job!! Will kept throwing candy so hard that it would hit people in the head - I even heard one guy say ouch, and compliment Will on his throwing ability - and Grace loved throwing candy to all the kids. Mark was on the opposite side of the float than we were, so I didn't get to really see him in action, but I did have to tell him to pace himself with the candy throwing as we had a long, long way to go! Since our float was the first to go, we got to be dropped off at the end of the route and walk back the two blocks to watch the entire parade, and my kids got to collect some candy for themselves. It was the best of both worlds!

At 5:00, once my day home kid was gone, we headed out for the fair! My kids aren't even this excited on Christmas morning, this is the biggest day for them - as Mark said today: "I've been waiting a whole year for this day!" I loaded them up, grabbed the wagon and some sweaters and off we set to see the bright lights of the fair! We got to the gate and hit our first speed bump...they charged me $5.00 for Grace to get in, even though the paper said that six and under is free - I was not about to hold up traffic anymore than my Choo Choo Wagon already was, but I was not happy. We went over to the ticket booth and after one carny snarled at us from behind the plexiglass we stood in line for the she-man who was working in the other window. I am pretty sure she was a lady, but it was hard to tell. She was nice enough, but I do think they must teach rudeness in carny school. When I told her we wanted to buy three wrist bands for the kids I had added it up to be $93 (which pains me to even think about that) because the paper said $31 per person...nope, once again the paper was incorrect and the total for my three kids to ride on the rides tonight was a grand total of $105!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made our way through all the people and rides and came out by the little kids rides and once my kids started to go on these rides, one thing became very apparent - Mark is too tall for a lot of these rides this year! It was tough for him because he is too tall for the little kids rides but still a little too young and way to chicken for the big kid rides! Grace was even too tall for one ride that she wanted to go on with Will (but she was only about half an inch past their little arrow on the chart), so when the carny refused to let her on I became wild and ratted out a little girl who got to go on, telling the carny that I knew darn well that she was as tall as Grace and he put her on the ride! He pulled her off, measured her and told her she had to leave the ride too! I felt a little bit like a bag after that, but I was so annoyed that they were being so picky about half an inch on a little car ride! On the other end of things though, Will got to go on pretty much whatever the heck he wanted, even though he was about half an inch too short! He even got to go on the big swings - I am talking about the BIG swings! I couldn't believe he even wanted to go on and the carny happily put my three year old on this adult size ride! The other thing that gets my blood boiling is the butting in line that happens when my kids are lined up, waiting their turn; I know that kids will be kids, but butting in line is probably my biggest pet peeve in life!

By about 9:00 p.m. I was ready to go (not only because I had had enough of the bright lights and excitement for one night, but "Big Brother" was going to be on t.v. at 10:00!) but Grace still had not rode on the ferris wheel yet! She cannot go to the fair without riding this favourite ride of hers! Since I had a panic attack and meltdown last year when I attempted this ride with her, I knew I would have to find someone else to take her on (because even though I will allow my three year old to ride the big swings, I will not allow my six year old to ride the ferris wheel alone!!!). Greg had the boys on the giant slide, so Grace and I went in search of a companion for her. I couldn't see anyone who I knew, but then I spied two little girls just a little older than Grace waiting for a turn on this ride! I told the one little girl that I know her mom and introduced Grace to them and they welcomed her with open arms! The three of them climbed on and were so excited to go for this magical ride...and it's a good thing they were excited because I think the carny forgot aobut them as he left them on it for almost half an hour!! They just kept going around and around and around! Everytime I thought they were going to get off, they would just fly by! Poor Grace was so cold by the end of it she was shaking when she got off - but at least she had fun!!

Natalie was at the fair as well, but not with us. She rode her horse with her 4-H club in a lovely tribute to a young girl, from her 4-H club, who was killed in a car accident last year. They did the ride during the opening ceremonies of the Grand Stand at 7:00 p.m. the first night of the fair. After that, I saw Natalie once with her friends, milling about the fair grounds and to my surprise she was home by 11:00 p.m.! She too thought it was outrageous to pay $35 for a wrist band, so she didn't ride any rides at all.

I will go back each day to check out the different activities that they offer. We will take the kids to the exhibit hall, the petting barn (even though Grace will be gagging the moment we walk into that fragrant barn), the trade show and of course the booth that sells cotton candy and candy apples!!

Tomorrow when I go though I will be bringing my paper with me to show them just how much I do and don't have to pay...at these rates, my kids better enjoy the fair more than Christmas because they just might have to pick one over the other this year!!

SJ