Today was the opening day of our annual 4H county fair. We walked the animal barns and watched the parade. Typical small-town parade...cop cars, fire trucks, tractors, classic cars, and even the occasional excavator and garbage truck. One of the local wrecker companies even brought out their rotators to hoist a flag. Lots of hard-working, salt-of-the-earth type people enjoying good, clean family fun.

Humorously, the local chapter of the democratic party had a few people walking the parade carrying a banner touting social justice and other liberal crap. The crowd went stone silent as they went by, and we overheard one of them complaining to another that "nobody wants to talk to us." It warmed my heart . I'm not sure why they thought coming to this event was a good idea...if they'd been throwing candy like most of the other participants, people probably would have thrown it back.

I love this county!

Merica! Its still out there.

Was married to an Ohio girl. On one trip back to her hometown Lima with my young daughter, my wife took us to the nearby Auglaise County fair. This was my daughter’s first exposure to a real county fair. (We were overly suburban Atlantans.

When entering the midway, my daughter exclaimed LOUDLY: “Look dad, carneys!”.
I quickly hustled her off to a 4H pig judging, which dad enjoyed thoroughly!

Wife passed away in 2017, but great memories of West Central Ohio.

People in my tiny town and surrounding township had a pie auction for charity.

They raised $55,000.00 from the sale of 48 home made pies that the local people baked up.

After living in L.A., Phoenix, Denver, Santa Barbara, Mesa, Littleton and Portland.

My tiny town of 1600 was a giant culture shock but after 6 years I got acclimated,
After 10 years I started liking it and now I see a lot to appreciate on a daily basis.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:
I love this county!

That looks and sounds like a great time. I grew up in a place like that, and there's times I really miss it.

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Originally posted by bendable:
People in my tiny town and surrounding township had a pie auction for charity.

They raised $55,000.00 from the sale of 48 home made pies that the local people baked up.

I love that. You know the people who bought those pies had fun with it when they got home with them, too. "Best pie I've ever had! Would have been a bargain at twice the price!" And so on.

I grew up in a small midwestern farm town and envied my cousins that lived in big cities. It was years before I realized what a marvelous place that little town was.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:


I love this county!

My son recently moved from the Chicago burbs to a tiny town in Wisconsin. For the 4th, his small town had a big parade and my grandkids came home with lots of candy.

I think they are loving their small town as well.

I love small towns for all the reason in the lyrics of this song and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z78VT2yf3WQ

Like that John Mellencamp (sp?)song "Small Town."

That's a pretty good town you live in.

In my town, we have a "kiddie" parade on the 2nd down ½ the length of the main street.
On the 3rd, we have a "3/4" length size of the 4th parade.
And on the 4th - the whole 1.5 hour parade down the main street.
Then, at night, real fireworks.
Love my town.

PC

Yup, if you take out the tourists in the summer, our little town is very similar. I love a parade with plenty of old, refurbished tractors.

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Originally posted by SpinZone:
Merica! Its still out there.

Considering this forums' emphasis on positivity, this bears repeating.

My small town is not entirely idyllic - crime exists, drugs, etc - but when you drive by in front of the pool house, it looks like someone emptied a couple dumptrucks of bicycles into the yard. All of those bikes were just dropped by some kid in their hurry to hit the water. If any bike locks are there, they're not being used. You never hear of any of them being stolen.

The local newspaper's police blotter mentions barking dogs.

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On one trip back to her hometown Lima with my young daughter, my wife took us to the nearby Auglaise County fair.

Lima is only about 2 hours east of us down US30. We drive through there pretty frequently as it's between us and my parents. It's about twice the size of our town, but that's not saying much. It's the same basic concept...flat and lots of farmland.

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I grew up in a small midwestern farm town and envied my cousins that lived in big cities. It was years before I realized what a marvelous place that little town was.

I spent my teenage years in a city of 1.3 million. When I came back here for school, my goal was to absolutely not, under any circumstances, get "stuck" here. That was 2002, and I'm still here .

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In my town, we have a "kiddie" parade on the 2nd down ½ the length of the main street.
On the 3rd, we have a "3/4" length size of the 4th parade.
And on the 4th - the whole 1.5 hour parade down the main street.
Then, at night, real fireworks.
Love my town.

PC

Last time I was out your way, we came down 16 out of the Bighorns and drove through Worland. It was early morning, and they had the whole town set up for some kind of festival. They had flags everywhere, and a couple of fire trucks set up with a huge flag hanging across the main street. I remember telling my wife, "Yeah, we could move here." I've got a couple more years until my retirement accounts get vested, but once that happens who knows...

I grew up in a small farming community in south eastern Idaho. I like to go back and visit the friends I grew up with. It's a great way to get back in touch with the really important things in life.

I agree. I love Indiana. It's a pretty cool State once you get away from Gary. We are making our annual pilgrimage to Shipshewana which I presume is a little north of you in a couple of weeks and I can't wait. I absolutely love it out there.

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Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
I agree. I love Indiana. It's a pretty cool State once you get away from Gary. We are making our annual pilgrimage to Shipshewana which I presume is a little north of you in a couple of weeks and I can't wait. I absolutely love it out there.

Yeah, Gary is pretty much its own thing...we try not to claim it. Shipshewana is about 45 min NE, and it's a nice little town. Just watch out for buggies and don't step in the horse crap!

I grew up in an Illinois town of about 4,000. A few years ago, I went back on the 4th of July because I had my last remaining aunt in a nursing home.

I had a pancake breakfast at the Catholic church and ran into my old little league coach. I introduced myself as his worst ever player and he told me, "I had a lot of those."

There was a parade with the tractors and float with the remaining WWII vets riding on it. The marching band was there, etc.

There was a car show in the park in the afternoon, and the Rotary Club had a fried chicken dinner. My dad fried chicken for over 50 years at this event. I even helped a few times.

I left to head home before the fireworks and the country band.

It was like going back in time to my youth. I hope I never forget that day.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Today was the opening day of our annual 4H county fair. We walked the animal barns and watched the parade. Typical small-town parade...cop cars, fire trucks, tractors, classic cars, and even the occasional excavator and garbage truck. One of the local wrecker companies even brought out their rotators to hoist a flag. Lots of hard-working, salt-of-the-earth type people enjoying good, clean family fun.....

I like small town gatherings like that with young children and old tractors. Your signature doesn't give an indication where you are though, other than an area where corn is raised, but"west of Lima" I'm guessing you're in Indiana?