Letters: Fall days bring back county fair memories

• From Our Post and Courier Readers
• Oct 31, 2023

County fair season is upon us, a time for eating sugar-sprinkled fried dough, salty cups of fries, smoked turkey legs and wonderfully random treats deep-fried or dipped in chocolate.

But looking back on 40-plus years of county fair attendance, those trips seem less about food and more about the magic of a family outing on a cool fall evening.

As the sun set, we would bundle our kids into a wood-sided wagon, and bump them across the grass toward the midway of a tiny fair in the foothills of New Hampshire’s mountains.

We watched the Ferris wheel turn (deemed too scary by my crew), shared a waxed bag of warm peanuts and a red-and-white-striped box of popcorn and sipped cups of hot cider.

Then we spread our blankets on a slope by the bandstand to watch a group of cloggers: the men straight-backed and serious, hands on hips, and the women in short, stiff crinoline skirts, tipped like bells.

Next came the folk dancers dressed all in white, their ribbons flying and bells jingling.

Our children watched, wide-eyed, the stars winking above, until one by one, their eyes closed.

Then we tucked them back into the wagon after another grand night at the fair.

JOCELYN CHABOT

Charleston