The Delta Fair & Music Festival

I grew up going to the Mid-South Fair, an annual event held here in Memphis. Daddy would get off work at 4:30, we would eat supper at home, and then we would head for the fair. We would go to the livestock barns, see the crafts exhibits, look at the art submitted for judging, eat cotton candy, ride rides.... all those wonderful fair "things". We took our own kids almost every year. We would go first thing in the morning, pick up Mother on our way, go to the livestock barns early, go see the exhibits when the buildings opened at 10, and then head for the midway for rides and food. Once Mother quit going with us we would bring her a box of salt water taffy as a souvenir. We have wonderful memories!

Some years ago the Mid-south Fair moved down into Mississippi, and we haven't been since then. There is another Fair that came to Memphis to fill the empty hole left by the moving of the other one, but i had just never had the chance to go to it. I didn't want to be that inaccessible to Mother by that point.

This year The Daughter and I went to the Delta Fair. We looked at the exhibits in buildings first: the art, the sewing, the crafts, the vegetables, the baked foods... Then we headed for the midway. We rode a lot of rides, including the Scrambler (I think they called theirs the Sizzler), the Rock & Roll (which goes forwards and backwards) and -under whatever name- has always been a favorite:

and this swing:

We ate lunch there. The Daughter had a double pronto pup, and I had chicken on a stick and lemonade:

We rode 2 different ferris wheels. The photo at the top of the post was taken from this one:

Here are some other shots from that ferris wheel:

We went through 2 Haunted Houses. This was the first one:

It had a sign up advertising an employment opportunity:

The Daughter didn't encourage me when I said I could run away and join the carnival. Hmmmm....

The livestock exhibit can't hold a candle to the offerings of the old Mid-South Fair, with its multiple barns and rows and rows of different kinds of cows and sheep and pigs and goats, with official judgings and presentations of ribbons. This fair has a Children's Barnyard Petting Zoo. That's about it as far as "livestock" goes. Not at all the same thing. But we had fun nevertheless, and I got kissed by a young camel:

There were tents with singers, stages with entertainments, and much more. We bought fudge as a treat to The Husband, who wasn't up to a Fair trip, and The Younger Son, who seems to have caught some kind of coughing/sneezing illness. We are already looking forward to next year!