The Eternal Fair!!

Here we have some Jamaican fellows advocating for the legalization of weed, among other cartoon characters like Betty Boop, Hello Kitty, and some fluffy pink and blue stuffed animals. That's what our Jamaican friends are good for, though.

Once again, we have Bart Simpson, mushroom man, soccer balls, and then some Jamaican women with huge grins, big lips, and crazy figures. They're probably also smoking weed.

The little girl in the pink go-cart was killing everyone else in the race. Below she's about to overtake this boy, then above she's in the lead.

I don't know how fairs work in other regions of the U.S., but in Lafayette the "Cajun Heartland State Fair" comes through every year. The carnies set up shop for one or two weekends, and then hit the road again. Well we live right under the Croix-Rousse, the northern edge of Lyon, and there has been a fair installed here for over one month. During the day it's ugly, dirty, and looks garish set against the background of historic buildings and city greenery. In fact, during the day, it looks almost deserted. People just walk around it on the way to other things, but the carnies, or whoever is in charge of it, has crammed the little booths and rides into every little niche of the big boulevard, so it's totally invasive. You can't escape it when you're within the boundaries, it's at the beginning of every side street.

One sort of humorous element of the fair is that most of the booths have wierd American themes. For example, there's a Rock and Roll ride with American flags, Elvis, a soda shop waitress, then the phrase "love machine" (hippy culture? ok, kind of a stretch...), break dance signs (90s? what?), and then Brazilian flags (not the US anymore!). There's another booth selling I don't know what called The King, another named Al Capone, some Betty Boop, some Looney Tunes, then a tiny train track with small neon green foamy cacti called VEGAS! I'm sorry, did I say Looney Tunes? I meant Planet Toons, the other, sketchier version that doesn't infringe on any copyrights. I will give them, whoever them is, credit for their haunted house. It looks much more elaborate and interesting than what we get in Lafayette. And I have to say, all of the booths are interesting at night. With the crazy lights everywhere, all of the people, and then the sketchy element that comes with the fair, it's a fascinating place to do some people watching. Tom and I haven't figured out how it's still making money because it's been here so long. I would think parents would take their kids once, maybe twice if the kids nag enough, and that's it. But there are almost always crowds at night. I don't know.