August 2008 Archives

Did Someone Say Deep Fried Snickers on a Stick?

By / August 2008

I love the Minnesota State Fair, which is weird, because, in isolation, every individual component of the Fair is one that I despise. I mean, please! The large crowds, the transfats, the smell of livestock. And I swear you can get Hepatitis C just by looking at the carnival rides.

Yet, inexplicably, the Fair is one of my favorite events of the year. I cannot explain why. Maybe it is the unbridled conviviality. Maybe it is the late August days, languid without being melancholy (a rare feat, I find). Maybe it is the fantastic crop art (It really IS amazing); or the 90-pound butter sculptures of Princess Kay of the Milky Way; or the prize-winning banana breads and jams and flower arrangements and pumpkins and you name it. And maybe, just maybe, it's the deep-fried pickles on a stick, though I wouldn't know since I would never eat something so unhealthy. Ahem.

What do you find inexplicably happy-making? Whatever it is, I say make it a small (or big!) part of your day today. The hectic pace and perma-stress of modern life often crowds out life's giddy little joys. So before the more serious and scholarly mindset of autumn rolls around -- and we roll back our sleeves and set our minds to big projects and prepare for winter  -- sneak out of your obligations for an afternoon and do something giddy and silly and wonderful.

You won't regret it. And if your indulgence happens to be the same as mine, I'll meet you at Sweet Martha's cookie stand. But I'm not splitting my bucket of cookies. You'll have to get your own! (Not, of course, that I would know what those unhealthy cookies taste like. I mean, please!).