<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d12817498\x26blogName\x3dOh,+SmAlbany!\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dSILVER\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://smalbany.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://smalbany.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-599240031872120973', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Oh, SmAlbany!

Daily posts and occasional longer essays about politics, culture, and life in the Capital Region...updated M-F, midmorning


"I write this not as a booster of Albany, which I am, nor an apologist for the city, which I sometimes am, but rather as a person whose imagination has become fused with a single place, and in that place finds all the elements that a man ever needs..." -W. Kennedy, from O Albany!

Local fairs...

The August place to be: The Altamont Fair is this week. I haven't been there since I was a kid. And then only once. My family always used to go on our summer vacation the week of the Altamont fair. I disntictly remember filling out forms at my elementary school every June so that I could get free tickets to the fair in the mail, but then not being able to use them because we were away in New Hampshire or wherever. On the other hand, I've been to most of the fairs local to SmAlbany. It's funny, because I never thought of my family as "fair people," but I guess we do our share.

After my sister and I were particularly obnoxious one year about "always" missing the Altamont fair, my parents took us to the Schaghticoke fair, which runs this year August 31st to September 5th. I've definitely been to the Saratoga County Fair (already happened in July), although I don't remember when. And believe it or not, I've gone up to the Washington County Fair (next week) in the past, which is - how should I say this - a little bit different. Once we even made the trek out to the New York State Fair, which has its grounds out by Syracuse. That's quite a scene.

Although they vary in many ways - number of exhibits, quality of rides, quality of bands, amount of animal contests and animal-related stuff, types of people that go there, etc. - the fairs are largely all the same, at least for me when I was a kid. I'd ride some rides, stuff myself on food, spend $10 trying to win an enormous stuffed gorilla, watch some animal shows, and then head home. I can't remember ever loving the fairs, but I always had a good time. Looking over the prices of some of the stuff at the above fairs makes me wonder if my parents weren't as thrilled as me.
« Home | Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »

At 10:48 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said:

For the past few years, I have gone to the Saratoga County Fair, because my wife owns llamas that are shown there. I always enjoy a glass of cold chocolate milk at the dairy barn.

The best part of any fair, however, is the pride that local farmers and ranchers have for their produce or herds. Being a city politician, I kind of miss that rural flavor - with the exception of the Delaware Avenue farmers market.    



» Post a Comment

powered by FreeFind

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?