Fairs and Festivals

Artist Statement

I grew up spending a week at the county fair every summer. Our family was a 4-H family. My mom occasionally taught sewing or flowers, and my father was an active fair board member. All the kids raised steers for the fair at some point. We did not get an allowance, instead, we kept the money from the sale of the steer each year. I remember using the showstick to “set up” my steers, the smell of hairspray and pomade used to fluff their coats, and the panic caused by that occasional wild steer in the showring.

However, showing and tending to our animals was only a small part of the fair experience. We had the run of the midway the rest of the week, and I grew to love the colors, lights, smells, and sounds there. That part of the fair was devoted to entertainment; it was where romance happened and where you learned you were brave enough to go on that ride after all.

There was also something sad lurking there, in the funhouse and the sideshow and the games of chance. Small town fairs and festivals are places where the community comes together and where strangers set up camp for a week. These events are liminal spaces, offering fairgoers a glimpse into a different world— yet one that is familiar and changes little from year to year.