Observations

North American Midway Entertainment's Century Wheel sits unadorned at the top of the hill in Nashville, just a couple of days before the 105th kickoff of the Tennessee State Fair

Only yesterday I had a conversation with a gentleman about how dismal most media coverage is of state and county fairs throughout the country. A long history of Google news alerts would indicate that news and feature stories about the fair usually fall into three categories: ride safety and/or rigged games, background checks for carnival workers, and what I like to call - the cotton candy story. This includes a wide range of feel-good topics covering everything from blue-ribbon Pygmi goats to deep fried butter. They are rarely original, much less creative.

Fortunately, the Hutchinson (Kansas) News missed the memo.
Two entertaining and worthwhile reads here:

Cab driver's a waiter - as in waiting for fair customers by Kathy Hanks

And, the much lighter yet still interesting: Overheard at the fair