PNE! It’s back! I am sure everyone has a fond memory of a day at the PNE! I have been many times over the years but I never realized I was doing it wrong for so long until I got educated by a more informed friend.
Now let’s face it, having a lazy time wandering around the attractions, eating some outrageously unhealthy food and picking up some random household s**t is in no way a bad strategy for enjoying the fair but with my *New and Improved* game plan, now I take a few moments to review the day’s events and by making a slightly more concerted effort to attend a number of shows, the day is more like this; Superdogs, deep-fried oreos, walk through the barns, coo over the baby bunnies, Peking Acrobats, a large smoked meat poutine, Wheels of Steel, Ginsu knife purchase and finally, rounding out the day with a crunchy, golden brown, pickle-stuffed corndog. And this has vastly elevated our PNE experience to a superior level of satisfaction!
I kind of love these Fairs. I have been to Williams Lake Stampede, Armstrong Fair, Spoolmak, Kelowna Regatta (before it was canceled), Regina Days, Calgary Stampede and the over-riding theme is pure temptation. Buy the junk, play the games, eat the food…my favorite attractions, besides the food, were the stalls that had a mysterious channeling medium or sometimes a ‘computer’ to analyze your hand-writing or birthdate. Back then I was a sucker for the mysteries of psychic power and would throw my money at any person or machine who would accurately delve into the particulars of my personality traits or forecast my future. ‘You will be poor as you make terrible financial decisions about how you spend your money…!’ Hind sight amiright?
Whatever, I was 11 so it was cool. The rest of my cash went towards novelty crap, cotton candy and actually very cool event t-shirts that I wish I still had now. There is nothing quite so quintessentially summer as a turn on a rickety fairway ride with the smell of warm sugar and hot grease wafting through the air. As a matter of fact, my first and last roller coaster was our very own 63 year old wooden marvel; longest and oldest in Canada! In plain terms, I did not enjoy the adrenalin rush and have never ridden one again. See, life-changing experience!
I can’t be sure we will attend this year as we are still avoiding crowded spaces but I am happy to know the event was saved from the abyss and will go on to live another year.
Enjoy these last weeks of Summer 2021 everyone! And join me next month as we return to the joys of Back to School – Covid edition.