Every year, the county comes out for the summer county fair. The Cecil County Fair has been around for a very long time, and I have a feeling it hasn’t changed much in all those years.
It’s a wonderful event. There are rides and cotton candy and a rodeo and a demolition derby. There are livestock and baking competitions, as well as a petting zoo. It’s a small fair, so it isn’t overwhelming. I know state fairs often have big stages with big name acts, but this is nothing like that. It’s much more small-scale, far more friendly.
Of course, the rides are a little rusty and frightening for the wrong reasons–and the hillbillies really come out. It’s hilarious to see so many mullets and motorcycle t-shirts. Funnier still is watching the girls hobbling around in the dust in their high heels.
The big draw every year is the demolition derby. If you don’t know what that is (who doesn’t know what it is? really?), a demolition derby is an event where a bunch of people crash their cars into each other until only one car is still running. I went on a Thursday night. There were four heats, and the winners would be in the big finale on Saturday night. It was wonderful! There were a few fires and several big hits. One car was pushed onto its side, tipped upright by the firemen, then pushed onto its side again. There was a good fire, too. No one was hurt, and there are lots of emergency workers to help out if anything goes wrong. Mostly, it’s just amazing fun to watch those cars smash the heck out of each other. The commentator was annoying: he kept talking about “smokey smoke”.
A few pictures of the demo derby:
