all is fair

Let’s play a word association game. Ready? OK, the word is: FAIR.

Sticky hands. Huckleberry ice cream. Llamas. Sleeveless Van Halen T-shirts. The Gravitron. Bagged goldfish. Screams. Elephant Ears. Squeals. Massage chairs. Bus-size corn dogs. Deep-fried Twinkies. GERMS!

OK, you get the point.

These things and more come to mind anytime someone so much as whispers that magic summertime syllable. Here, say it again: FAIR. Can’t you smell the fresh-pulled taffy?

But listen up – people don’t have to subject themselves to the ritual spin-scream-and-stuff-your-face fest if they don’t want to (not to say there aren’t a million Zipper lovers out there).

There are literally hundreds of fairs and festivals of various sizes and focus occurring in the region over the next few months.

These community events are the best way for us to taste lives that aren’t ours. To see and do things outside our living rooms and local bars and movie theaters. To take faceless, lazy Sundays and turn them into memories.

So if you have a hankerin’ for demolition derby, airfield aerobatics, wine tasting, kite flying, accordion music, Skandia folk-dancing, painting, arts, crafts or just about anything else, rest easy.

We’ve hunted down as many of these oases of activity as humanly possible, and wrapped them up nice and neat. Some are in your own back yard. Some would make a fun day trip or even a weekend escape.

Read on. Those boring Sundays just got exciting. You’ve got plans.