fairs are a gathering of, criminals in this area
they are the only folks who go
We (wife and I, brother, mom) do not attend, and Mom is head of the dav auxiliary, and should go. But she doesn't. Too much 'activity'.
but if you want weed or coke or crank, or you want to be beaten or killed over $20 in cash, it's the place to be.
last time I went, we had fun for the most part-except the fact that you could not go anywhere on the grounds without getting contact high. I didn't forget that. I don't like it, don't like the smell, don't want to be near it-thus I have never been back. Ain't a lot of crime in that area, just a lot of "poor" country folks (they can't be that poor if they're buying the stuff), and generally a good place to be--but I still haven't been back and it's been, gosh, 15 years?
Used to work at a kubota dealer that was adjacent to the fairgrounds, so every year at certain times I'd see this stuff happening-particularly after dark. Sometimes we'd work til midnight or so, typically end of the month trying to meet a sales or service goal. Couple times we had guys climbing the back fence trying to get into (steal, vandalize, ???) the equipment. "Fair-goers" as the police would say.
And I live a not terribly far from "the carnies"-a carnival ride business. As long as "they" stay on that side of the road, I'm fine. But I don't trust a single one of them. They've got a bunch of big trucks (rides, etc) and such lined up ready for the next event, their property is about 250 acres and a lot of that is just pasture. But when the carnies are in town, they live in their vehicles (usually cars, trucks, vans but sometimes they'll park an RV behind the neighbor's fenceline) for a few weeks, on that pasture, and there's 'stuff' that goes on obviously. We are starting that "few weeks" right now (typically labor day through the last week of Sept) and they are showing up. If the wind is just right, I don't go outside. Nobody does. And when I do, my head is on a swivel and I'm heavily prepared. Those folks is just plum weird.
and the prices that they charge for admission have tripled since I went, I think a ticket is $30 now. Gotta pay those carnies ya know, considering the lack of 'fair-goers'. Snowballs, they jack up the cost to enter, fewer people go, which reduces the overall income producers so they raise the cost and then even fewer people go. But the troublemakers certainly don't avoid. Even the cops avoid it now, fewer officers than ever I'm told.
