A Fair Time

My love for fall fairs is well documented on these pages. As long as I can eat something on a stick, pet a goat or a bunny and see something I’ve never seen before, I’m happy. 

Londoners love to complain about the Western Fair. Do Torontonians do the same about the CNE? I can’t remember. But here, no matter how wonderful the fair is, people love to say it sucks. I don’t know what they expect but for my money, I think it’s a grand ‘ol fair.

While on location for Free on Saturday I got to see the whole Dora the Explorer show! The kids’ stage was across the way from the Free trailer and although I have no interest in singing “I’m the map” a hundred times, it was kind of cute to see how many little kids went kooky when Dora took to the stage. Why don’t they question that she’s 100 times bigger than in the cartoon? I also had lunch on a stick.

Me smiling, with windblown hair, as I chomp on a long stick with breaded chicken fingers on it.

At least it was chicken. And it was dry, not greasy. And I could only eat two-thirds of it.

The displays were huge and colourful and included some interesting stuff. When I entered the main building to find a bathroom, a woman at a hair salon set-up stopped me. “I could do something with your hair”, she said, noticing my windblown look. “Come back and see me when you’re done working.”  I could only conclude that she didn’t realize I didn’t normally wear my hair like a fright wig and wanted to give me a makeover. I didn’t go back.

But I did select a delightful caramel apple and, learning from last year’s incident when a hearty, sticky bite cost me some dental work, I brought it home and ate it like a lady. That’s presuming a lady would ever eat a caramel apple.

Caramel apple cut in pieces on a cutting board

There was no swallowing of veneers this year!

More than the teacup pigs and the old-fashioned farming competition and the carnies and the array of deep-fried foods, the fair is a link to the city’s past. Western Fair has been going for 139 years, with brief pauses for world wars and other major world incidents. Londoners of 100+ years ago walked the same grounds and marvelled at the foods and products of the day. This area had an agriculture base and the fair is one of the few remaining links to it. That’s why I always like to go. That, and the food on a stick.