Throwing Baseballs, Throwing Funnel Cakes, Throwing Up?
Katye Gilliland
October 14, 2009
Filed under A & E, Community, Features, News
With the season changing, the weather getting cooler, and football season in its prime, another thing comes to mind: the fair. Everyone has been to the fair one time or another and it’s become an adventure for families, teenagers, couples, and elders. The fair brings people from all over the states to one location for food, rides, and fun.
In our area, there are many fairs and festivals. The most local fair is the Augusta Exchange Club Fair, also known as the Georgia Carolina State Fair. The fair is open from October 16-October 25 and is held on the corner of 4th Street and Hale. This year is the 87th year that the Exchange Club Fair has been held and it is said to be the best year yet. The local fair offers rides from the classic Ferris wheel, The Gravitator, The Zipper, The Wave Swing, to the Pirate Ship, the Cyclone and the Tilt-a-Whirl. For those who don’t ride the rides, there is a circus on site, a livestock exhibit, vendors of all kinds, pageants, and talent competitions. There are also haunted houses, dunking booths, numerous games with chances to win prizes, and lots of interesting people to look at. The price of admission is only $6 for adults, and $15 for unlimited rides. Other local fairs include the Columbia County Fair, the Carolina State fair in Columbia, and the Greenwood County Fair.
Why should you go to the fair if you haven’t ever been? Sophomore Ashlee Tyler is the social butterfly and enjoys the atmosphere. “The fair is awesome because it’s a fun way to hang out with your friends and meet new and interesting people.”
The fair brings together people from all different types of cultures and areas around the state and it brings students from area schools together. The fair is like Wal-mart: you can’t go and NOT see someone you know. It’s easy to have a bunch of people meet you there and everyone can hang out without limits. Everyone can ride the rides together, eat, and play games. It’s like a party. . . outside.
A sky-view of the Fair at the Exchange Club Fair Grounds
Not a social butterfly? Well everybody likes to eat. The most common reason people go is for the food. “Fair” food is some of the fattiest, sweetest, and addicting out there. Funnel cakes, candy apples, vinegar fries and corn dogs. The smell is enticing and the taste is incredible. Sadly, it’s called “fair” food because you can only buy this stuff at the fair, once a year. (Unless you want to try and make it at home, which is never the same and painfully time consuming.) And the food you buy would probably add up to the cost of the unlimited rides. So if you want to eat and not ride, more power to you. (I don’t recommend eating $15 worth and then riding…results will be undesirable)
If you enjoy fattening food, thrilling rides, throwing up, watching piglets race, spinning in circles, walking around with a significant other, or talking to a lot of people, the fair is the place to be. It comes once a year, so catch it while you can.
