Back to School Rituals and the County Fair
August 8, 2011
 When I heard that my nieces and nephew in Alabama were returning to school today, all I could think was, “So Early!” And then I discovered that some of the schools in my area were starting later this week, even though most of the districts in this section of the Midwest wait until late August because not all of their buildings have air conditioning. However, more and more of the buildings are being updated, and more and more of the districts are returning to school earlier in the year. And, yet, they still don’t get out until almost June or later.
While today’s students are lucky to have two months of uninterrupted freedom, when I was a child our summer vacations stretched on for three, blissful months. In my home town, summer vacation stretched from late May—depending on the number of inclement weather days we had to make up—until late August or early September. The county fair was held in our town the fourth week of August every year, and so our school year could not begin until the Monday following. The fair was simply too much of a distraction, not to mention the number of students who took part in 4-H and were required to be at the fair to care for and present their projects.
Fair week was like the exclamation point on the end of our glorious summer. Dunking booths, donuts, peanuts, fair fries, riding until you wanted to puke, strolling with friends and giggling while you followed cute boys around (sometimes, not so inconspicuously). And then there were the events you were required to take part in depending on what extra-curricular activities you were involved in. The county Marching Band Showcase at the Grandstand. The Cheerleading Competition on the last Saturday of the fair. No one growing up in my hometown can think of the end of summer without connecting it with the county fair.
When my family moved to South Carolina before my junior year of High School, I quickly learned that not every town has this back-to-school ritual to look forward to. And I quickly discovered that the heat of the Southeast required that all schools have air conditioning, and thus allowed school to return weeks before I was accustomed. That first year we started two full weeks before my friends up north. And my senior year, it was three weeks earlier. Yes, I graduated two weeks earlier than the students in my hometown in Ohio, but that seemed little consolation to me the summer before. I simply wanted those three more weeks of freedom, and an elephant ear. Though, I suppose living an hour and a half from the beach compensated.
What back to school rituals did you grow up with? |
