Race for the Prize

I’ve been duped into going to a state fair for most of my adult life. The first time I went was pre-desert, the year I graduated from college. I’d never gone as a kid, I didn’t grow up around farms - on the rare vacation I interacted with a great aunt’s llamas but that was it. Those first years, I’d just crinkle my nose at friends buying fried butter and paying $5 to ride a jenky-ass (leading descriptor for why my dad wouldn’t let us go as kids) roller coasters when that 5 bucks could get me so many other things I value more. Later years, I’d participate ironically, wearing some form of western wear borrowed from a friend and learn what foods to avoid the hard way… and then relearn that lesson every year.

Now, with time I’ve grown to love going to the fair. I went twice this year. Once was to see The Flaming Lips, the second time was on the ‘unlimited’ ride night. With unlimited rides, as Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben would say, comes great lines. Honestly, a little bit of a bummer to show up after work at 7pm and find out that all the cool rides have an hour + wait, that’s one way to be. But the alternative to it is just so much less of a burden. One that I’ve been learning and leaning more into these days - which is to just fucking get over it and have fun. Lose the ego. The state fair isn’t really my scene. But dammit if it’s not fun if you let it be.

I got to hang out with great friends, laugh a lot, and get that much needed reminded that we’re all just humans. The fair, for me is chilling, spending too much money on something fried just cuz, and going home very overwhelmed, while for others it’s part of the family tradition or they’ve been raising an animal all year and are now showing it. The point is that it doesn’t matter. If Wayne Coyne can go and have fun, then so should we all.

These photos are mostly me just documenting the things I found beautiful or intriguing as we roamed the grounds, talking and taking a much needed break from our lives beyond the makeshift entry point.