All of us should be so long at the fair

Lou Marzeles
News Editor

     Time for the Fair. Back where I came from, that would mean something very different from what it does here. Back in Sedona, Arizona, more or less the woo-woo capital of the Western world, the fair would be of the psychic variety. I once saw a booth at a psychic fair that introduced a psychic reader, also commonly called a medium, who referred to herself as "that psychic fair, that medium rare."
     Here, of course, medium rare is not at all a psychic occurrence, unless you want to attribute cookmanship to divine intervention. From what I've heard about some people's cooking around here, that might not be far-fetched.
     Of course, there will be ample opportunity to sample the heaven-sent culinary wares of the area in the next few days. From the barbecue at the fair Thursday evening to the trio of barbecues next week put on for families of area schools, this is the end-of-summer food fest time. And it's a warm and cordial custom, as is the county fair, reflecting as it does so well the life pulse of the region.
     I was in Olympia Friday, working the corridors of power there on behalf of this paper's readers. (I'll have reports on that visit in upcoming editions.) The most consistent reaction I received as I introduced myself and told them the newspaper I represented was: what's going on in Goldendale that would bring someone from a publication there all the way to the state capital to meet state officials and make connections here? It was as if the very idea was beyond all reckoning to them-and it impressed them favorably. I welcomed the opportunity to explain the essence of my new home to them. I could do so through newcomer eyes, and as I spoke, I drew on the atmosphere so tangible here as the fair approaches. I think they could smell the barbecue in the capitol dome.