• fae/faer or they/them

fae otherkin in the streets, anthro red chocobo in the sheets


-it is calming, nay, it is healing to be in the vicinity of cute farm animals. the fact is I was raised a Twilight Sparkle but probably should've been an Applejack.

-a shout out to the little girl, couldn't have been more then four or five, who was walking into each booth in the animal and farming display and freaking out. LOOK MOM! CHICKENS! LOOK HOW CUTE! [she looks into another room, and with unwavering excitement] LOOK! MOM! MORE CHICKENS! she was having the best day of her god damn life.

-in general, a whole lot of the kids I saw were very excited to be there. for all the complaints about the kids, always being on they damn phones, all into this skibidi fanumtax roblox, every single child I saw was excited at the prospect of fair games or just being able to look at cows. the kids are gonna be okay.

-this was Country, and on the one hand it sucked because it was like "yeah I could buy a cool bag here and-oh these are all designed for concealed carry or whatever" and there were plenty of church booths, one Confederate retailer, but...y'know? for a pretty busy space (they get roughly ~12K people through it a day) there wasn't a whole lot of engagement. I feel like the rural south is perhaps a bit misunderstood, we are not the monolith of hatred that we are written off as by smug centrists. like when I was ordering food there was a GNC person (if I had to guess, transfemme, but I do not know for sure) behind me who was curious/interested to know how my buffalo cauliflower was and we talked a moment, and that was one person, but that was 50% of the quantity of confederate flag dudes I saw. perhaps, in its way, nature is healing.

-the expo hall had a bunch of shit in it I was unaware people were judging. we had the nice peppers and the big wall of apples and the paintings, sure. but also, like: best preserved foods, based on how nice the jars looked. best table setting among under-10s. best penmanship. best honey products. I took a business card for local beekeepers, not that I am one or intend on becoming one, but because they offered educational services. might look at a meeting to learn somethin' sometime.

-this fair doesn't go in on the New Unique Food Culture like some places do-in a way that's a shame, but it also means you are surrounded by standard State Food Products at all times. more funnel cakes and deep fried oreos and ribbon fries and so on then you can shake a stick at, corn dogs and cheese steaks and onion blossoms on every aisle of booths forever. and it's all good. the big thing is there is a booth that's been there since they started this location 30 years ago that does apple dumplings and peach cobbler and they're perfect. wouldn't change a thing.

-I very nearly handed a guy a sack of cash to play his bottle-breaking game to win a four-foot-tall purple plush raccoon. kinda regret not doing so.

-there was a local artisans' building, which is cool, support your local makers! but also it was a touch out of place, in its way, right off the games area. you can win a giant stuffed banana that's also a racist stereotype, and then go spend $500 on a beautiful hand-crafted dulcimer. anyway I bought a charoite necklace, there. was more then I was expecting to spend on any singular item, but it wasn't like I was gonna have another opportunity anytime soon and I'm allowed a piece of fancy jewelry for once. (it was also still two digits, pricewise, so not completely through the roof.)

-actually, again: the difference in energy is palpable. the ministry booths, the two guys trying to sell confederate flags? not happy people. no energy. they sat there and stared, almost like they were mostly there in the hopes someone would pick a fight. the artisans, mostly older folks, would jump up and happily discuss all their stuff with you, have a conversation with genuine interest in who's buying their goods. the food stands were all younger people putting on their best sales faces and cheerfully waving people down to come try their maple sugar cotton candy (this is really good, incidentally!) or buy some cookies for their dogs or whatever. the people who are there to save your immortal soul, the people who we are supposed to believe are the heart of the south, simply sat there and frowned gently as the world moved on around them.


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in reply to @Lavender-Fae's post:

One of the best conversations I had during my State Fair visit this year was the local guy selling freeze-dried/dehydrated candies.

Just shooting the shit about the different types of candies that he sold, ones that hes experimented with but can't sell due to supply and even just "hey you ever thought about freezing this esoteric kind of candy if you find it?".