Do you like Fairgrounds?
By 5th House
@5thHouse (1678)
Sheffield, England
September 13, 2016 4:03am CST
When I was a child my mother wouldn't let me go to the fair. She thought fairs were rough, dangerous places.
Perhaps that's why fairgrounds have always seemed quite exciting to me. There's a forbidden energy about them. I love the flashing lights, the sounds, the smells, the way the people running the rides often look a bit scary!
What intrigues me most, however, are the old-fashioned fair grounds. One of my recent photography targets was carousel horses. I was lucky enough to spot this beautiful horse last year at a traditional fair ground in Snowdonia, Wales, The fair was part of the bicentenary celebrations for the Battle of Waterloo.
One carousel I would really like to photograph (and ride on) is next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which I seem to recall featured in the film, Amelie.
9 people like this
7 responses
@Happy2BeMe (99353)
• Canada
13 Sep 16
What an amazing photo! I love fairgrounds and the atmosphere of it all. It is exciting and fun and the smells of the fair food cooking.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Sep 16
That's a beautiful photo. As a child, I went to many agricultural shows (fairs) as we exhibited horses and sheep. I always chose the best horse in the merry-go-round (carousel) and would miss a turn rather than ride one with its ears back.
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@CelticSoulSister (1640)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
13 Sep 16
That's sad you weren't able to go. I spent a lot of my early childhood in Southend-on-Sea's (now long departed) Kursaal funfair as my dad worked in there. The atmosphere was buzzing, but in a good way, and even now I still have dreams about how it was. It did have an edge of danger about it as sometimes it was a bit of a sleazy place, but that was all part of its excitement.
@CelticSoulSister (1640)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
14 Sep 16
@5thHouse I suppose I only really went into the Kursaal when I was a very young child with my dad. As for later on, the place I went to for meeting boys was (a pub) far sleazier than the Kursaal - my mum would have gone nuts if she knew I'd been going in there.
@Juliaacv (56215)
• Canada
13 Sep 16
My mother was the same way-but her thing was that they were just too dirty for us to go to.
And the funniest thing of all is that I, as a parent, didn't encourage our son to go to the fair, the rides went up so quickly I questioned how stable and safe they are, and they tend to be a bit dirty.
We used to take our son to an amusement/theme park instead of the fair.
@5thHouse (1678)
• Sheffield, England
13 Sep 16
I remember taking my youngest daughter on the waltzers at the fair and the ride seemed to go on far, far too long. I began to think the person operating the ride had just wandered off and collapsed somewhere and that we would be stuck on there forever! It was the most horrendous ride and I felt my neck was going to snap off. I've never liked fairground rides since, although I've still enjoyed theme park rides which somehow seem, on the whole, to be safer.
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@CoolPeace (1563)
• Miami, Florida
22 Sep 16
I love the fairgrounds. We have fair here 2 times a year and other places have it year round.
