All’s Fair
If you lived here, this is what you would have seen this weekend:
Amid block parties and little league games, the town fair dominated the weekend for most families in town. I can take or leave the rickety carnival rides, but watching Ryan run off to ride The Sizzler with a friend he just bumped into at the sand art booth makes it all terribly sweet and homey. The chance games — and especially the prizes (rubber duckies, plastic ninja swords, stuffed dolphins) had me wondering if I just gave my kids 20 bucks and an Oriental Trading catalogue, but the kids’ exuberance about the contest and the prizes — however fleeting — pretty much melted the cynicism away.
To be honest, the English-major wannabe in me (I was Communication at Cornell) tried to lure Them away from the fair and to Tom Sawyer Day at The Mark Twain House instead. But I’m glad we celebrated West Hartford.
The food court is all local, with hometown restaurants staffing booths, instead of the usual fair fare.
Did you know students from one of our high schools built a mini-golf course for our Life & Leisure department, with replicas of important town buildings? The dollar donation for a round on the course was one of our favorite dollar’s spent.
Did you know that Mikhail Baryshnikov will star in a world premiere of a production opening at the Hartford Stage next year? I managed to surprise the stagehand staffing their booth by actually knowing who Baryshnikov is, which did make me feel a tad old, but at least cultured (I swear, I knew who he was even before his Sex in The City cameo).
It’s good to go local. I did not have much time to browse the crafts tents, but I managed to sneak away from Them to “run home” between Celebrate and a wedding party. Literally, I changed into running clothes and ran home from the fair, so I took 15 minutes “warm-up” to cruise the crafts. Someday I’ll have time to mosey through the tents leisurely. For now, I made quick notes of inspiration:
I thought these bronze-cast belt buckles by Boston-artist Fran Kronstadt were very cool. I hardly wear belts, but I want to start now.
I know I’m going to be on a hunt for sea glass at the beach after seeing all the cute framed sea-glass art at The Beach Glass Store.
I want to get the kids some camera time to try to find the letters of their name in the world, like these photo art posters that are everywhere (including at the craft show).
I may never get to this, but the English major wannabe in me also kind of wants to make one of these vintage book purses they were selling at one booth (and I found some pretty good instructions here).
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