Fire Fighter’s Fair 2010

It’s hard to believe that a year has past since the last fire fighter’s fair. This year was a little different than last. This year, we didn’t find the great deal on a wristband for Andrew, but that was OK; we all got wristbands anyway. This year, the budget was no longer the driving factor.

Bad weather delayed the start of the fair from Friday night until Saturday afternoon. We arrived shortly after the fair opened, and ended up staying to after 10:00PM. It was a very long, tiring day.

Since Andrew is another year older and a little bit taller, he was able to ride a few more rides this year. He did the old stand-bys, but also was able to ride on a couple “big kid” rides. His favorite, by far, was the “Starship” – the spaceship-shaped ride that rotates so fast that you to stick to the wall. One ride in particular was pretty hard on me. The ride itself was great, causing my vision to completely blur while it was going, but after it stopped, things got just a little stressful.

The ride was called the “Cobra”. It was similar to the “Scrambler” - sort of. It had two sets of six cars that rotated like mixer blades at the ends of a long arm. The cars were tilted slightly outward, and the arm was bent upward with one end low and the other high. As a result, only six cars could be loaded and unloaded at a time, leaving the other six suspended about twenty feet off the ground. The tilt of the cars meant that the seats were not level with the ground. In our case, the seat was leaning about 30 degrees to the ground while the ride was stopped. The bar wasn’t all that tight or form fitting, so I had to hold myself on my side with my left arm to avoid squishing Andrew while holding Andrew with the right, else he’d slide under the bar to the ground far below. Luckily, I was able to get Andrew to help brace himself with his foot against the side of the seat. Finally, after three or four minutes, we were rotated to the ground and were able to get off.

The most enjoyable slow ride for me was the giant Ferris Wheel. The line was short, so we were able to get right on. The view was amazing, especially considering the poor weather over the previous few days. I could clearly see condos on the beach to the south that I know are over 20 miles away.

After enjoying the rides for several hours, it was time to get ready for the Little Mr. and Miss Fire Fighter Pageant. Yes, Susan signed up Andrew to participate. I told her it was fine, as long as Andrew was interested.

The pageant started with pictures of the participants with Sparky. Then the host introduced each participant, gave a quick bio, and asked a simple question based on information provided by the parents. Andrew was asked his favorite class in school, to which he loudly and clearly answered, “P.E.”.

Andrew didn’t win, but along with everyone else, he received a nice medal, which we refer to as his bronze medal. Secretly, I’m glad he didn’t win, otherwise we’d have to go to several events throughout the year and show up at next year’s pageant.

After the pageant, we changed Andrew back into his normal clothes, then found some fair food and ate while Andrew continued to enjoy the rides. I wasn’t quite satisfied just yet. Earlier I saw a sign for Apple Dumplings and Ice Cream. I had to try some before leaving the fair. The dumplings were great, but the ice cream was a little off.

Before we finally walked out, we had to see what was on the other side of the fairgrounds. I was happy to see that they had a very small area with cows, pigs, guinea pigs, chickens, and rabbits. They even had a few John Deere’s on display. No fair would be complete without big green tractors.