Al's campaign notebook: Hamilton County Fair, July 24

We were blessed with a beautiful night again on Saturday, probably below 70 degrees by the time I got to Noblesville for the Hamilton County fair. This seems like the coolest summer in my memory. Besides being exceptionally pleasant, this cool weather seems to belie dystopian liberal predictions of global warming.

In any case, I'd never been to the Hamilton County fair. They certainly take their fair pretty serious. Maybe it had to do with the placement of the commercial tent where all us politician types were set up, but it sure seemed like a lot of animals. The 4-H part of the fair was definitely prominent. I stopped on the way in to make friends with a couple of sheep. But enough about the Democrats. [(Adopting Foghorn Leghorn voice) That's a joke, son. I said, joke.]

For starters, we had a fine turnout from the Hamilton County Libertarian Party. Other than absolutely Marion County next door (Indianapolis), Hamilton County probably has the biggest county party in the state, and the most candidates.

Heck, they've embarassed the local Democrats bad enough to get them to actually run candidates for office. This is something that the badly outnumbered Democrats hadn't even been bothering to do in this Republican county - until the Libertarians began actually running more candidates than the Democrats in the last couple of election cycles.

Anyway, there were too many danged Libertarians running around for me to keep track of. Among the most merciless tormenters of the local Republicrats in attendance were big, bad Mark Schreiber, and the infamous author of the Kole Hard Facts of Life blog and secretary of the state party, Mike Kole. [Mike's account of the fair]

Kenn Gividen, our hardworking gubernatorial candidate, was again in attendance. He had been out on the grounds when first I arrived. Coming across the tent to our booth in the far back corner, he claimed to hear me from the other end of the tent, which must have been at least 100 yards. Apologies if I was sucking all the air out of the room, but I was talking over the tractors in the ring just back of the tent. Then again, out in Franklin County, we're used to hollering over farm equipment.

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Article Author: Al Barger

Unreformed hawkish Hoosier hillbilly Al Barger runs the still squeezin' down the psychodelic Kentucky moonshine at More Things. What with the paranoid religious visions, the Pentecostal music, visions of God and anarchy running amok and such, somebody …

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Article comments

  • 1 - Jim Carruthers

    Aug 01, 2004 at 6:50 pm

    I'm not familiar with your quaint, ethnic customs in the Untied States, but aren't county fairs held in the late summer, early fall, y'know round harvest time?

    But, by the by, you should spend less time on the goat vote, and really try to ramp up the drunken carny vote. Because, as goes the hand the on Tilt-a-Whirl, so goes the nation. Or you could just make out with Carnie Wilson.

  • 2 - Mike Kole

    Aug 01, 2004 at 10:35 pm

    It isn't Moosonee, where the growing season is six weeks per year, that's for sure.

    This is high fair season in the Midwest. It is indeed earlier than the usual harvest schedule, but what drives it is the preparation to sell livestock. Non-champion livestock is sold off immediately after the fairs. Champion livestock is entered in the state fair and scheduled for stud.

    Thanks for the link, Al!

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