Small City Doings, Part II

(You might want to read the posting below first so you understand this one.  Small City Doings, Part I)

If you’ve never been to a rural county fair, you’ve missed a nostalgic part of Americana.  The Texas Citrus Fiesta comes close to replicating a country fair in what is called the “Fun Fair.”  Tents of vendors selling kitschy souvenirs, cotton candy, lots of barbecue stands, live bands – everything a country fair would have except animal displays and quilting contests.  Of course, it has its own unique flavor of deep South Texas. It’s a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon with the family. 

(As always, be sure to click each one of the photos - you will see the larger sized version that way.)

One of the connections to the past is the Vaquero Cook-off.   (Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowboy – the men on horseback who herd cattle on large ranches.)  As the sign on this tent says, the idea is to keep alive old traditions, such as baking pan de campo (camp bread) by using cast iron skillets buried in the embers of a camp fire.  A jury judges the entries – La Esperanza Ranch won this year.

Of course not all the eateries are nostalgic or even serve “healthy” food.  Chili cheese fries, anyone? Who cares if they are fattening – an afternoon of eating junk food like this is good for the soul. 

Maybe your tastes run more towards something sweet – a funnel cake right out of the fryer with lots of powdered sugar and cinnamon on it should do the trick. 

But then again, maybe you want something in the way of fried spicy potatoes on a stick.   There is a food stand that will serve every desire.  And – because it is a fun day, Mom and Dad don’t care if its good for you or not.

I was drawn to the bandstand.  True enough the country band wasn’t too bad – not bad at all, especially as they mixed in some songs from that L’il Ole Band from Texas, ZZ Top.  They had a bunch of folks line dancing in front of the stage. 

But – as an old rocker at heart – I was drawn to the retro band that came on next.  Yeah – they did some “oldies”, but when they did of the more bluesy  numbers like “Shotgun” (Junior Walker and the All-Stars, 1965) the band rocked.  I noticed more than a few boomers in the crowd who couldn’t resist moving to the beat.  This guy wailed!

And you never know – there is competition out there too.  This little girl got a case of the uncontrollable giggles when she realized she was a shootee as well as a shooter.

And remember, folks – this is Texas.  How could it be said better than this man?

Note:  I had a ball shooting the Fun Fair.  As I was shooting, I got to wondering why I didn’t do this more often – get out and take photos of “the real Texas” as I used to do when I lived in Việt Nam.  I took pride in the fact that I shot pictures of the way people really lived – the “real Việt Nam.”  But towards the end of the afternoon, it dawned on me – to shoot “the real America”, I would have to be inside.  Because most Vietnamese don’t live in air conditioned homes or work in air conditioned businesses or drive air conditioned autos or shop in air conditioned malls, it is possible to shoot the “real Việt Nam” outside.  With the exception of events like this, or in the case of some few people who do live mostly outside,  there are few opportunities to photograph “the real America.”

Comments

[Russ]

What a hoot! How cool is that? Loved it. Beats the hell out of pulling a groundhog out of his cage. You got some great "faces" there.