NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the dates for four pageant events on the fair calendar. The Teen and Junior Miss pageants are Wednesday, with the Little Miss and Little Mister events Thursday. That information was incorrect in a Sunday story due to a reporter’s error.
John Grandwohl looked over and grinned.
And said it.
It was at an earlier run of the Monongalia County Fair, which is returning to Mylan Park this week for its 2022 edition, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID concerns.
Grandwohl, who was one of the Midway performers, had already reduced the crowd to guffaws with some soggy slapstick and — wait. We’ll get to that.
First, this fair: The one that’s back at Mylan Park this week, doing all the things that fairs do.
Everything begins, as it always does, with a parade.
The grand parade steps off at promptly 7:30 p.m. Monday from the top of High Street, featuring local disabilities advocate Bob Pirner as its marshal.
After that, the fun moves to Mylan Park for the rest of the week.
There’s the Queen’s Pageant on Tuesday, followed by the Teen and Junior Miss pageants Wednesday and the Little Miss and Little Mister events Thursday.
There’s the 4-H and Future Farmers of America competitions, the quilt show, Bingo, bouncy houses and the demolition derby.
Corn dogs (and cornhole) will be in abundance, live music from Rick K. & The Allnighters and Ryan Cain and the Ables, and a car show, for the Detroit rolling iron set.
Visit the fair’s Facebook page or www.moncountyfair.org for the complete schedule and other details.
AccuWeather said the temperatures shouldn’t taunt fairgoers too much.
The forecaster is calling for highs in the 70s and 80s for the week, though there is a chance of rain and thundershowers Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Grandwohl used weather to his advantage in the above account of the earlier fair.
A storm with lashing rain had hit, causing people to scurry away from those pelting drops.
Grandwohl, a guy who makes soap bubbles dance in his act, seized the day, and his kayak. It goes everywhere he does.
He grabbed the vessel and plunked it down in a puddle — all the while pantomiming exaggerated rowing and comic consternation at not getting anywhere — at the height of it all.
It wasn’t long before the storm moved through. The rain lessened.
Middle-schoolers on (chaperoned) first dates resumed holding hands on the Midway, and first-borns in strollers continued their cooing on the avenue of funnel cakes and neon.
Purple clouds soon gave way to blue skies and golden sun in the late afternoon. Just in time, too.
The sun’s setting rays caught the Ferris wheel in Norman Rockwell relief, prompting a few people to instinctively reach for their cell phones for a snap.
Grandwohl took his own mental picture for the record.
And then, he said it.
“See? This is why people love the fair.”
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