We take the kids to the Farmers Fair every year in spite of the pressing crowds sometimes literally shoulder to shoulder. This particular year happened to be the very first year with our 8 month old firstborn. My husbands siblings, teens and preteens, came with us. The sites and sounds fascinated her even if she didn’t understand it all. The smells, the sounds, the visuals of the rides, the shouts from the games of chance really were overwhelming.
Suddenly the sky’s opened up with a torrential downpour! Everyone ran to cars or under the picnic pavilions to wait it out. We could see the people running the game booths protecting their prizes as they waited it out too. One of our daughters teenage uncles stood up and walked through the rain to one of those booths, plopped down a quarter on a colored square with a number printed on it, and waited for the barker to stop being surprised and get on with spinning the big colorful wheel. My dear brother in law was being drenched, his hair plastered to his head, rain his eyes!
The barker shrugged, spun the wheel. My brother in law walked away with a 4 foot tall 3 foot wide purple fuzzy stuffed dog! The people under the pavilion went crazy. All of the barkers were laughing, shouting to each other about what just happen! And our daughter had the coolest cuddle toy in her nursery!
That daughter is 50 years old.