Oracle Online

Parades, it has parades. Those can be fun, maybe, if you like that sort of thing. There are rides. Those used to be fun, when I was young, and didn’t have to pay for them.
I am trying, I honestly am. But for all of the hype that the State Fair receives, it really isn’t all that exciting. Unless you have an undying obsession with fried things on sticks, or traffic jams and endless lines, there really isn’t a whole lot of entertainment available.

Sure there are food and rides, as well as the nightly concerts, but all of these things cost enormous amounts of money. You pay an entrance fee, and then pay for everything again once you get inside.

Oh, and there are crops, big ones, for you to look at, but not eat. They are not fried and on a stick, so they are not for sale.

If you have a good time at the fair, then good for you. There are plenty of interesting things to do there. I have no problem with people enjoying it, I am just confused by the hype it receives. Everything you can do there you can do much more cheaply and easily elsewhere.

Maybe I am just bitter from my own disappointment at the fair. Maybe I would understand it better if I loved deep-fried crap, which, given the content of the hours of local media coverage devoted to the fair, is the main focus of the event.

Or maybe if I was actually from Minnesota I would understand the significance of the event. Locals love to brag about how big and great the Fair is. It was one of the first things I heard about after moving here, probably because I tried to move onto campus during the fair, but also repeatedly since then. Everyone would tell me how great it is, how many memories they have from the Fair from their childhoods, how I should go in order to truly understand the Minnesota experience.

But when I ask these people what makes the Fair so great, all I hear about is the food. I like food. There is no conflict of interests there. But I eat food all the time. My grocery store has food. I don’t even have to go that far. My kitchen has plenty of food.

Is fair food above and beyond all other food? Perhaps my tastes are not on par with the average person. Maybe I should not be thinking about the health impact of deep frying candy bars. We could even drink the oil to wash down the deep fried cheese curds.

Maybe I am bitter because I cannot eat most of the food, and rides make me sick. Or maybe I on to something here. The Fair is only such an event because people hype it up to be one. And all of you that hype it up, you have tricked many a person, such as myself, into believing I was heading for the time of my life.

It was not the worst thing that ever happened to me, but the fair definitely came across as overrated.

But hey, for the price of a terrible Hollywood new release, you can go to the Fair instead. Put in that perspective, it’s not such a bad deal. But for your money, you might be better off not doing either.