Festivals are the Best
May 1, 2017
The only good part about summer and early fall, when it’s hot and humid and generally irritating, are the festivals. Northwest Arkansas is blessed with an abundance of fairs throughout the summer, including Frisco Festival, Grape Festival, Dogwood Festival, and the Frisco Station Mall fair. These festivities are staples of Southern culture, and most people have fond memories of going with their families when they were young or with their friends. When a fair rolls into town, people become righteously ecstatic; it’s the sign of a weekend full of fun.
Most families attend because of the rides and games. Generally, there are carousels, bouncy houses, go carts, bean-bag toss, rock climbing towers, helicopter rides, and swings. No fair can be considered a fair without a ferris wheel. There is face-painting and, more recently, henna tattoos.
Another good thing about festivals is the food. Anybody who’s step foot onto a fairground can recognize the smell of funnel cake and kettlecorn. Brightly lit food trucks boast deep-fried everything: fried oreos, twinkies, pickles, and ice-cream. The lemonade, served in giant plastic cups with colorful straws, is the best. Snow cones come with cute little tropical umbrellas, and for some reason, there’s always a wooden painted Spongebob figure sitting in front of the snow cone truck? I’m not sure what that’s about, but it’s still vital to the fair culture.
The most personable part of the fair are the little tents set up selling and promoting various groups. Some sell handmade bracelets, figurines, engraved rings, paintings, rocks, weird graphic t-shirts and baseball caps, birdhouses, soaps, and more.
Fairs are the best.
