A "Fair"ly Excellent Night

Last Friday, when the Greenville Forward team was feeling the Friday blisters and wanting to head out for the weekend, I got a bee in my bonnet about going to the Upper SC State Fair. I did my research online and became instantly sold...knowing I would get the chance to eat some cotton candy (a personal favorite) and see some local flavor that you can't find anywhere else.

Russell and Brock seemed almost shocked that I would want to go. Why would a Furman senior care to go to local fair? They both could not remember the last time they ventured out to the fairgrounds.

When I first pitched the idea to my friends, some were very excited like myself and a few were less than sure that this was a good idea. Perhaps a little too hung up on our supposed "maturity," it took some arm twisting to get a group to go. However, as often happens when I convince my friends to do something abnormal, they had a great time and thanked me for convincing them to go.

After getting lost along the way, we all started to feel the return of juvenile enthusiasm when we saw the lights of the ferris wheel and the sky exploding with fireworks. As soon as we got out of the car, our senses were overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and smells.

My good friend and talented photographer, Jonathan, immediately got out his camera and began to capture shots that provided an excellent representation of an iconic county fair. I have included a few of his favorite photographs with this blog post. If you want to see more of his work, you can visit his website, http://jonathanandersen.com.

Definitely the highlight of our evening was the scariest fair ride I have encountered...the Fire Ball--12 minutes of pure, unadulterated terror. We saw two people throw up while we waited in line. I think we all wanted to prove to ourselves that we could actually ride this thing that mimics what it must feel like to be inside of a washing machine.

Despite the feeling that my stomach was hovering outside of my body for most of the ride and screaming so much that I was hoarse immediately after, we all laughed so hard watching each other scream and cling to our seatmates out of complete fear.

You may be wondering why this experience was significant. The lesson I think I learned (and my friends, in particular, who did not want to go) is that you are never too old to act a little ridiculous and cling to youth. In fact, I believe that the attitude that you are never "too cool" or "too old" to enjoy a simple pleasure like the fair is what really helps to keep us all young.

So, enjoy the pictures that accompany this post and I encourage you to do something random and fresh the next chance you get. Even if you think you might not enjoy it, just go for it and I guarantee you will feel rejuvenated and refreshed.