I wanted to take a moment and say KUDOS to the two high school seniors who took it upon themselves to make an investment, rent a booth, and sell a product. It isn’t often you see high school seniors being so ambitious. Maybe it was because they couldn’t find a date for the Midway or maybe like the ant, they are loading up for a long cold miserable Syracuse winter.

These kids actually found me. Serendipity led one of them to find me at the Fair grounds and we had a wonderful political and business related chat. He left but returned half an hour later he returned with three of his friends to introduce them to me. I asked what he was doing at the Fair and he said he had a booth and told me where it was. When I asked him what he was selling, he looked me right in the eye and told me the truth. “It’s a con”.

I checked him out. He isn’t kidding. The product he is selling IS a con … and folks are paying $5.00 for each one.

Good luck kid.

Speaking of cons … that carnie who ripped off my daughter is paying the price of pissing me off. I know my limitations and that I have no chance of getting the money back and that I cannot complain to anyone.

But, I can get my pound of flesh.

Every time I pass by the booth, I give the operators a hard glare. When I am with people, I walk them up to the booth, tell them right in front of the carnie how my 14 yr old daughter was ripped off, and then show them the hidden fine print used to screw my kid out of her prize. If I should be walking by and see someone about to play, I warn them to read the fine print first.

Apparently, the carnie is starting to wear down. At one point last night, he called me over as I was passing by. He said “here” and kept trying to give me back my $5.00. I refused.

He doesn’t get it … my kid won a choice of prize and he had better give it up. I figure by Sunday, he will have had it and offer me anything to shut me up and get me to leave him alone.

Now, if you are wanting to fund a booth or work at the Fair, someone gave me a great idea. It started with Jose Cuervo and ended with a $5 hamburger roll. At one point a swig of Jose did not sit well with my stomach and nothing was putting out the fire. I figured that if I could just get my hands on some bread to absorb some of the acid that I was trying to treat, the fire would go out.

I can find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the fair. I know where there is a grilled cheese sandwich. I know of roo and potato and everything at the Fair. Alas, nobody sells bread.

After walking half the midway and restaurant row, I found no bread. I could not think of a single place at the Fair that I could buy bread. Ultimately, I went up to a restaurant, almost on my knees from pain, and begged for a hamburger or hot dog roll. “Fifty cents” the owner said.

The one smell that dominates the Fair and drives everyone to eat is the scent and aroma of sausage and beef. I wonder how well a food booth that baked and sold fresh bread on the spot would do. I believe if placed strategically upwind from restaurant row, with big ovens baking loaves and loaves of bread, I think this kiosk would prove very successful.