Anticipating fair-time fun

I can still recall how as a child certain words could instantly lead to automatic excitement.

Parade, park, fireworks, playground, lake, fishing, carnival and camping. The one word that would literally have me running around yelling and screaming was a short word -- fair.

Yes. That word instantly had me thinking of all the fun things I like to do at the fair, including the rides, games, food and animals I’d see.

Growing up in a small county, which consisted of a lot of dairy farmers like our family, the fair was a place to show off the best gardens, crops and animals. For adults, it was a...