State of Fare

At the state fair, most state fairs, the parking is free; acres of open fields to accommodate the revelry.  One should learn to sniff out traps.  

  The fee into the grounds was reasonably painless, eight dollars a head; equivalent to a movie no sticker shock with that.  The bars spin on the turnstiles incessantly; allowing only inward; the exits are obscured.  As is customary at such large events, patrons must purchase tickets for anything they would like to obtain during their stroll on the premises; be it entrance to a show, or something to consume, it’s an arrangement most are familiar with. One buck; one ticket, a powerfully simple exchange. 

  The Midway intentionally positioned for its riot of sounds and lights drawing the crowds interest; there is little that can compete with the overt thundering noise or blinding flashes of colorful light; a sensual smorgasbord.  Deceptively the path narrows as corridors rob choices, making reversals a difficult prospect of resistance; the flow moves in one pressing direction; inward.  The rides spun and rose with dizzying speed; promising bliss and delight. Screams of adolescents mingled with revving engines and heart pumping heavy metal music that massages internal organs with waves of bombastic bass resonance. Signs demurely reveal the paltry price for the orgasmic covenant one seeks with thrill.  Six tickets; just six and you too can be lost in hysterical release. Reason abandoned to enthrall, the distractions have conquered any possibility of a processing mind.  Eagerness for delight invokes droplets of perspiration on the upper taunt lips of expectant faces. They are numberless; a mass stretching out in deep, ponderable, queues.   They budge, then shuffle as a fresh crop of the anxious minion are sown. 

Inching ever closer to the mechanical monstrosities that move with unrestrained mechanical strength, grace, and magical glory. The idea of casual interest has blossomed into an obsession. Excitement screams in the skulls of those being initiated by it, 'I want to get lost in all of that!!'  As one can observe, perhaps even experience a knowing smile, as witness reveals the same scene, repeated along the spans of the boulevard; this modern cathedral dedicated to the worship of diversion.  Pilgrims seek absolution from joyless, rituals of work; as well as salvation from routines of their mundane lives committed to maintaining a scripted life. All sins are forgiven through the baptism of noise, lights and centrifugal gravity. Yes, the Mecca of force; terror for the sake of forgetting~ all forty luscious seconds of it for a paltry six bucks.  Oh and the good news is, you can have another dose; as many as your wallet can bear.  When you're broke, out of resource, well then you can go. The design has been fulfilled...

you're empty.