Confessions of an Exhibitionist

When I was a child one of the biggest annual events in my life was the Exhibition. It didn't matter that it signalled the end of summer and the start of the school year -- the promise of over priced rides, un-winable games and cotton candy more than made up for it. To my child's mind, there was really nothing more exciting than a fair or Exhibition. And I went to a lot of them, usually with my grandfather, my father and my cousin. I was never really into the scary rides. My favourite memory was a ride that was like a merry-go-round, only instead of horses it was cars and motorcycles. I remember in particular a car with dark green sparkly paint that I loved. I liked to play games too. I don't recall ever winning anything big, but my cousin often did. One year he won a stuffed doll that was a silver robot and it made me crazy jealous.

Later, as a teen, the Exhibition became part of my warped romantic fantasy life. To go to the Exhibition with friends after dark seemed incredibly cool. I suppose it was the crowds and the neon lights and the noise, but for a few hours you could pretend you were somewhere other than the little jerkwater town you were living in. Maybe it was just my first exposure to the seedy underbelly of small town life that seemed dangerously appealing to me. There always seemed to be lots of gruff & unfamiliar faces trudging around in the dark, hordes of teenagers wound-up and hormonal, often itching for a fight, and of course the always suspicious looking "carnies". One year I remember a common prize given out at the games were small mirrors with different heavy metal bands stamped on them. Another year a prize was feathered roach clips. As a grew older, I became more cognizant of how skeezy and over-priced the Exhibition actually was and I stopped going. To this day, I still have vivid memories of the last time I went to the Exhibition as a teen. In my mind's eye, this song is an excellent snapshot of how I kind of remember it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHYt-GKzfF0

Perhaps it's just a sign of changing times, but it seems the Exhibition just isn't as big of a deal as it used to be. Now the fairgrounds are much smaller, it stays in town for only a couple of days and it seems very few people bother to go (myself included). Apparently they don't even charge an admission fee anymore, which indicates a drop in attendance. Maybe the reason is because our society isn't a "rural" as it used to be; the agricultural and livestock exhibits aren't as meaningful to us city folk. Would winning a "blue ribbon" impress anyone you know? And our sense of community just isn't the same as it used to be: no one in the city goes to the Exhibition to socialize with their neighbours. Perhaps another factor is that kids today have a lot more options for entertainment and recreation than when I was a child. Satellite tv, the internet, video games offer distraction that just wasn't available in the past. And I suppose if they're really feeling nostalgic for the midway, most families can take a vacation anytime of the year and visit a theme park for rides and games. Even the junk food that you used to only be able to get at the Exhibition -- cotton candy, pink popcorn, pogos, etc -- can be found year-round in other places. So, it seems that all the things that made the Exhibition special are becoming obsolete.

One of these days, just for old time's sake, I think I'll enter something in an exhibit, just to see if I can win a "blue ribbon".