Sunday, June 28, 2009

The State Fair

I went to my first Illinois State fair in 1952, when I was just two months old. My mom said that I enjoyed the fair. I must of, I have been to the fair every year since that first one.

My earliest memories of the fair are from the late 1950's. Each year my mom and my three sisters would go to my Aunt Alma Rees’s house on Elliott Ave in Springfield. We would meet our other aunts and cousins (Reeses, Hopwoods, Durhams) for a day at the fair. I remember going to each of my older cousins and them all giving me a dollar to spend at the fair. I had a lot of cousins and they were the greatest. We would all go to the fair when it opened and spend the morning having a great time. At noon everyone would met for lunch. My mom and aunts would bring a picnic lunch that included fried chicken, potato salad and all the trimming. They would feed us on the hill by where the Ethnic Village is now. We did this for years and I will always remember how much fun I had at the fair and the special times I got to spend with my mom, sisters, cousins and aunts. Each year that I am at the fair is different, but always enjoyable. I can’t imagine missing a fair.

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