Next thing was the Jackson County Fair, which I went to on my own because ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger was visiting her brother.
The fairgrounds you access through this building, which as a community recreation center I suppose was saved in the 80s.
Among the first things I saw and did not understand: Dan Dan The Farmer Man driving around. I never saw what his deal was.
Here's the carousel. They switched to tickets being pretty cheap but rides taking a gobsmacking number of tickets in trade.
The teacups ride for kids is a mere nine tickets, though.
Pharoah's Fury is a twelve-ticket ride. I like this kind of swinging ship ride; bunnyhugger is less fond of them .
Redemption games offered a couple models of space alien to win, either inflatable or plush as you like.
A Dragon Wagon kiddie coaster, which I could probably have ridden if I wanted to bang my knees up enough.
Another Ring of Fire, 12 tickets. Note that you're not able to bring a hat on the ride, which does leave you suspended upside-down for a while.
You may think, well, all the adult rides are 12 tickets, right? Nope! The Ferris Wheel is a big 15 tickets.
And the Himalaya is also 15 tickets, which I find interesting pricing because I'd rate the Ring of Fire a more intense and exciting ride than the Himalaya.
Can't tell you how many tickets the Starship 3000 (a Gravitron ride) was. But here's a photo along some midway.
And now into the horse barn. The entrants create their own heraldic symbols for their horses that are neat to see.
Trivia: English banks and private investors put something like £150 million in loans and £200 million in stock subscriptions to Latin American companies and projects in 1823 and 1824. Source: A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America's Financial Disasters, Scott Reynolds Nelson. The crash came in 1825.
Currently Reading: Michigan History, March/April 2025, Editor Sarah Hamilton. Also some tiny insight into why Kalamazoo used to be called the ``celery city''; apparently it's where the crop first got planted in the United States and pitched as a food rather than a medicinal plant.
