#sun fair

We explored the Sun Fair on Mitchell Avenue yesterday. A family-friendly event complete with rides from your childhood like the "Tilt-A-Whirl" and "Pharoah's Fury" as well as dozens of opportunities to win generic stuffed animals of varying sizes depending on what feat of strength/accuracy/luck you have demonstrated competency in, the Sun Fair was tons of fun. We were definitely there at an off time (as one often is when accompanied by an almost-three-year-old), and so missed the mariachi bands and the liveliness of the evening hours, but it meant no lines and lots of attention from friendly vendors.

A fun game recommendation regarding those friendly vendors: walk back and forth through the gauntlet of games (including favorites like "Let's Go Fishing", "Pop the Balloon", and "Throw a Baseball at the 'Glass' Bottles") and see how many different pick-up lines you are subjected to. (Probably especially interesting to guys like me who don't hear a lot of pick-up lines in their daily lives.) Some of my favorites were "Come on, Dad, catch her (my daughter) a fish, and I'll give you a Tweety Bird" and "Come on guys, be real men and shoot some guns!"

We passed up the games but did manage to get on a couple of the rides, in spite of a lifelong distrust of large rides that seem to suddenly appear, disappear and reappear in new locations all over the world. How safe can something so impermanent really be? Sometimes you just have to trust.

Today, we spent the afternoon at the Sun Fair, passing out six different postcards with artworks and themes to carnival goers — we passed out close to 500! We heard some familiar memories and a ton of wonderful new stories.

Right now!

(And through the weekend)