By Brian Freitag
TASPL Director
I have many fond memories of the fairs of my youth. I went as part of my little posse every year, and I think we went for most days of the fair. My sister usually decorated a cake through 4H and entered it for judging, whereas I was just there for the food, shooting or throwing games and the rides.
There was a booth where my friends and I had our arms “tattooed,” which meant an artist used different colored pens and drew designs from our fingertips to our shoulders. It would take a long time, but we didn’t care, and our arms were even featured once on the front page of the local newspaper! No faces, just the arms.
I remember going on the Zipper, the Scrambler, and many other vomit-inducing rides and never tiring from the thrill of it all—and never throwing up, either.
The book fairs I recall from my youth at school followed a different pattern. You were brought to the library by your instructor and “released” upon the shelves for a limited amount of time. You rushed to make your choices and pay the librarian for your treasured finds before being reorganized and marched back to class.
The occasion usually devolved into a vigorous feeding frenzy among the shelves that even a great white shark would avoid.
That said, with March being National Reading Month the library will host the spring Paper Pie Book Fair March 16 and 17. There will be a wide variety of genres to choose from for your youth, and something of interest is certain to be discovered if you drop-in.
I guarantee you a more reserved experience at the book fair—somewhat short of a feeding frenzy environment, but with plenty of treasured items to be found at a bargain price.
Take care and keep reading!
