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Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Great Minnesota Get-Together


Good God! Food on a stick! The Minnesota State Fair is on! In the next two weeks over a million and a half people will eat food on a stick until they are ill. People really know how to have a good time out here in Flyover Land. Following stolen from red Ravine who stole it from F.Scott Fitzgerald.
The two cities were separated only by a thin well-bridged river; their tails curling over the banks met and mingled, and at the juncture, under the jealous eye of each, lay, every fall, the State Fair. Because of this advantageous position, and because of the agricultural eminence of the state, the fair was one of the most magnificent in America. There were immense exhibits of grain, livestock and farming machinery; there were horse races and automobile races and, lately, aeroplanes that really left the ground; there was a tumultuous Midway with Coney Island thrillers to whirl you through space, and a whining, tinkling hoochie-coochie show. As a compromise between the serious and the trivial, a grand exhibition of fireworks, culminating in a representation of the Battle of Gettysburg, took place in the Grand Concourse every night.
–F. Scott Fitzgerald,  A Night at the Fair

11 comments:

Silk Hope said...

Believe or not Gunnar, we get a daily report on that damn fair every year from Hugh Hewitt. Would love to go. Classic Americana.

reverend dick said...

"whining, tinkling hoochie coochie show"

whoa.

Gunnar Berg said...

Keep in mind, it was written in 1928.

Mimbres Man said...

Cool to see you're a regular on Red Ravine.

Gunnar Berg said...

Roma just connected with me on Facebook. I promised I'd connect with you. I dunno. I really don't have much to say on Facebook.

reverend dick said...

Yes yes yes; but it is still what I think it is, yes?

I mean, they had all the necessary even in '28. Tinkling hoochie coochies, and all.

Gunnar Berg said...

Yeah. And I'm sure there are still tinkling hoochie coochies.

reverend dick said...

I have the image of a flapper with pasties balancing plates on sticks. Too much?

Gunnar Berg said...

Prolly not. Nice image anyway.

Silk Hope said...

3 posts from the Rev. Got to be a record. Hey Rev I'm down with the Pasties, but the midwestern "blue" hairs might put of a fuss.

Gunnar Berg said...

When I was a kid there were still traditional "girlie" shows on the fair midways - really hard looking middle-aged ladies out front, looking generally lewd, tempting the old farmers to "Come in Side"! By the time I was of age I was more interested in real girls and anyway the sideshows were fading fast. Gone is the Alligator Boy. May he rest in peace.