Published: July 25, 2008 01:46 pm            

Hoosiers to the max: Indiana state fair

Hoosier-in-training Part IV

Last week we discovered how food makes the Hoosier, and vice versa.

This week, we’re all about fun.

From the days of the first settlers, Midwesterners celebrated raising a barn, harvesting a crop or “making a season’s worth of soap,” writes Carolyn Lieberg in “Calling the Midwest Home.” They helped each other do a job and then they “ate, played sports, danced and enjoyed each other’s company.”

Over time “the tasks of farming developed into showcases, contests and competitions. County fairs and friendly ‘meets’ offered opportunities to display prize produce and compete in the skills of farming, like corn husking,” Lieberg continues.

“Town” days soon followed, with towns honoring their founders, founding ethnic group or a special aspect of their community. These led, Lieberg tells us, to “Finn Days or Swede Days, Bratwurst or Beet Days.”

From there, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to the State Fair, 4-H, car races, carnivals, parades, bike races, barn dances, basketball, football, baseball, ice fishing, ice skating, roller skating, hunting, fishing and bowling.

And, of course, corn hole — a game I first heard of when we moved to Zionsville. It involves a little bag filled with beans or rice and a board with a hole or holes. I was exposed to this game when our house was being built. One of the workmen was making and storing corn hole games in our garage. He personalized them with the name of a college or a favorite sports team and sold them. In Connecticut, ahem, we call it bean bag toss.

One of my favorite Indiana memories is going to the Indiana State Fair for the very first time I was dating my now husband and he brought me out from Connecticut to meet his parents. I delighted in the squealing of what were called “Vietnamese guinea pigs” as they raced around a dirt track. Then we took seats at the “spouse calling” contest where contestants tell funny stories about why they resort to this singular way of getting their spouse’s attention.

A woman took the stage in a bathrobe and hair curlers, explaining she had come out of her farmhouse one Sunday morning to retrieve the newspaper and locked herself out while her husband slept. Unfortunately, he was deaf in one ear and slept on the other (bada-bum). She began softly and her calls increased significantly in volume: SOO-EEE!! PIG-EE!! HUB-EEE!! HUB-EEEEEEE!!

We return to the state fair each year, always finding new things to enjoy. I love the Home and Family Arts Building where I’m so impressed with the beautiful clothes that are sewn and modeled by accomplished 4-H members. I imagine children playing with the antique farm toys and young women carefully piecing the quilts on display. Pioneer Village is a hit with my son and husband, as is the “water” building — this year called “Pathway to Water Quality.” (My husband’s late father worked at the Indy Water Company; this I skip). My son loves the midway rides and all the “chances,” as we used to call them back in Connecticut, especially those involving guns (squirt or otherwise).

Every year, we try the special state fair food, that deep-fried, gooey concoction that sounds bizarre on paper, but ends up being fabulous (remember last year’s deep-fried Pepsi?). This year it’s deep-fried bananas foster cheesecake on a stick. Something chocolate would have been better, but …

Next week I’ll conclude my series on what makes a Hoosier a Hoosier, and answer the question I began with, “Can I ever hope to become one?”

A lifelong Connecticut resident, Cynthia DiTallo Starks and her family moved to Zionsville in 2006. E-mail her at cindy.starks@timessentinel.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.