Some good old fair memories ~ August 18, 2004

David Heiller

It must be about 1963 that my Houston County Fair memories begin.

They are all jumbled together now, and I’m not sure how accurate they are. But a few things stand out that I’d like to share, in the hope that they strike a chord with you.

New blue jeans went hand-in-hand with the fair. The smell of new denim has ever since reminded me of the fair. Of course they were about four inches too long, a concession Mom made to the growth spurt that was sure to come before the jeans wore out.

I tried to roll the legs of the new jeans into a respectable cuff, but they never looked right. They were all wrinkled and bulky. It wasn’t cool, man, and already at age 10 I knew what cool was. Mom would work her magic on them and quickly get the perfect cuffs. Cool cuffs. Wearing those blue jeans was kind of like wearing two stove pipes. The legs were stiff!

We bought our tickets for the fair rides in advance at Bissen’s Tavern. They were a bargain, something like 12 for $2. Mom always gave me a little money too, so I was set.

Oh, the excitement of going to the fair in the big city of Caledonia on a gorgeous August afternoon. My sisters and brother and a couple friends and me, and Mom at the wheel of the blue 1958 Chevrolet. We always had a car full. It’s a good thing those old cars had so much room.

David (middle) and his brothers Glenn and Danny
 overlooking the river.

At the fair we would usually split up, Danny off with his cool friends, and me tagging along if I was lucky. My sisters would promenade around the midway, looking for the likes of Danny Holland and Bruce Dennison and Duane Thomford.

I would usually make the rounds with Mom and my sister, Lynette. It wasn’t a bad thing. Mom was a good companion in the vast fair-grounds. I could wander off here and there, and usually pick her out in the crowd. Her red hair came in handy. She liked the building with fish and wild animals, and I would drag her through the livestock buildings too.

We would go on boring rides like the Merry Go Round, which Lynette could handle. The Tilt-A-Whirl was a must too and the Ferris Wheel if we were lucky.

My brother or sisters would intercept us once in a while, like foraging animals, to check in and get money from Mom and do something with Lynette, who had cerebral palsy and could not use her arms.

I remember once a kid about my age stared at Lynette a little too long. I gave him a quick punch to the stomach when no one was looking. It felt so good! Now I feel a bit guilty about it. He didn’t know any better, and I don’t know if my lesson was the right way to make the point.

David with his dazzling bear, Nicky.

One of the fair booths offered prizes if you could throw a nickel and land it on a dot. One year I brought five nickels and made my tosses. One of them landed dead center on a dot.

The huckster at the booth wasn’t such a huckster after all. He gave us a long look, then told me I could have anything I wanted. I picked the biggest bear that hung from the ceiling. It was white, so white it was almost dazzling.

Lynette was even more excited than I was, so I made the difficult decision to give her the bear. We couldn’t decide what to call it, but Mom came up with the perfect name: Nick.

Nick stayed in the house for many years, although he gradually changed colors. White wasn’t such a good choice after all.

My fair memories have faded, and I’ll probably even be challenged on these.

Now that the Houston County Fair is this week. I hope you can relive a few of your own memories, and that your kids and grandkids can make some of their own.