Mark’s Musings – October 2, 2019
Mark Fortune
If you are going to attend the 168th annual Coshocton County Fair, you better hustle it up – just a couple of days remain to grab your share of the French Fries, caramel apples, pizza, taters, sausage sandwiches, pie, fried this and fried that before the grounds empty out for another season. All that’s left will be some scraps of paper and a discarded French fry or two running around. We all know that the temperature has been unseasonably warm for our fair and frankly, (or is that a corndog I smell) I miss sweatshirt and puffy jacket weather. Wait until next year as they say – with Leap Year the fair shifts to the first week in October. We’ll see if we have to endure 90 degree days then. Take that calendar. Wait, it could be Indian summer next year!
Speaking of the Indians, despite giving it a good try, they just couldn’t get it done this season. The talent is there and if they can sign some of these guys during the off season – and avoid the injuries that made 2019 perhaps one of Tito Francona’s greatest years of managing – 2020 could be a great year. As they say in Cleveland, wait ‘til next year! We are because we have to.
My money – if I did do any wagering on baseball or sports of any kind for that matter – would be on the Astros or the Dodgers to take it all. I don’t.
Let’s talk about the Browns a bit. The boys in orange and brown performed more like they are supposed to play this week. The season is only a fourth of the way complete so there is a lot of opportunity to show what this group of Browns can do – and with Big Ben out for the Steelers that should be two wins you can count on this year. Let’s make sure we don’t brag too much in advance or even after the fact. It’s not really a fair comparison but this is the pros and you play the hand you’ve been dealt.
Let’s return to the county fair. I like the tradition and the consistency of the fair. If you have been attending the Coshocton County Fair for even a few years, you know where things are and, for the most part, when and where each event will take place. Some may think that is boring, but I think the fair is as much about tradition as it is anything else. I like that the French fry stand is pretty much in the same place each year, the lemonade is the same place, the donuts are in the same place and so on. The fair is busy enough without trying to track down where something is that you want to find each year.
If you are involved in 4-H or FFA you know that you can get a specific sandwich on a specific day at the 4-H food stand in Hunter Arena. And if you frequent the fair enough, you know where to find the best this or the best that. You can always share that knowledge with me . . . thanks!
We want to take this opportunity before it’s all over for another year to thank all of the members of our community that make the county fair possible – the senior fair board, the junior fair board, all the folks that work in the fair board office, take care of the grounds, staff the school eat stands, clean out the buildings, the 4-H and FFA advisors, all of the First Responders, the list goes on and on – it takes hundreds of people to make the fair happen each year and please know that your efforts to put on a great fair are appreciated and recognized. Thank you.
Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion
