Fair Time

July 3, 1981, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern

A familiar summer sight, carnival workers set up in a local park.  To most of us they are just a band of nameless people who provide us the rides and games, the refreshments and special treats that make up an important part of our summer.  Like a methodical stage crew, they come into the town under cover of darkness and magically erect a wonderland for all ages. After a few afternoons and evenings, they pack it all up and head for the next town, where eager patrons await the cotton candy and caramel apples and a chance to impress their best girl by winning some stuffed animal.  It's all so familiar, repeated from town to town like a circuit, until the fall comes and all we're left with is a pleasant memory of a humid night punctuated by those special noises and smells and emptier pockets because it took so much to win that bear.  Sweet memories indeed.