A year ago I blogged about seeing way too many overweight people at the Iowa State Fair. I also went on to suggest a tax that might help stem the tide of obesity in Iowa/America.
http://streffblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/tax-on-fat-people.html
During my annual visit to the fair this year, I made a few more observations:
*Tattoos are everywhere, and I'm not talking about the little guy from Fantasy Island. I'd estimate 1 out of every 10 people at the fair had a tattoo, but increase that to 1 out of every 5 people under the age of 40, and 1 out of every 3 between the ages of 20-35. And that only counts the visible tattoos; it might be 50% or more under age 35. It's just part of being young now, similar to ear piercing in my generation.
*If you want to surpress your appetite, closely watch what's happening in most of the temporary food stands. They're often dirty and smelly, meaning both the stands and some of the people working in them. And the food is, um, greasy. One image I still can't get out of my head was the guy who turned over the french fries basket to dump the latest load in a pan - only to have it fall out of the basket still molded in the rectangular shape of the basket! Perhaps this is actually a new fair food item: French Fry Loaf.
*Free entertainment at the fair still kicks butt. There's a variety of live music, demonstrations, and contests to watch. This year I caught a glimpse of the Mr. Legs Contest. As I tweeted at the time, I chose not to participate because I didn't want to demoralize the competition, and because I don't think it's right for pros like me to compete with amatuers. Regardless, the price of admission buys you a lot of value at the Iowa State Fair.
*Generally speaking, people are still fat.
No comments:
Post a Comment