We take our county fairs serious here.

Not so near - but worth the trip from anywhere is the Steele County fair.  Its probably the greatest County fair in the USA.  Most state fairs wouldn’t hold a candle to what you find in Owatonna, Minnesota every summer.  Google that - its the real deal.

I’m talking real fair action - shoot a guy out of a cannon about 100 feet into the air - every day - several times a day.  Bottom line I’d recommend one of our many county fairs some summer.

We usually hit two or three a summer with the kids.  Awhile back - I was wondering - will the fairs do better this year with $4 gas and families cutting out a long summer vacation?

I’ve been busy and didn’t realize our Washington County fair was right up on us.

Yesterday - I’m working a big project with a friend and we met quick for coffee.  Before we started he asked me if we got to the family free day this year - he’s got seven kids - I have six.  For us - family free day is the day to go.

I said - no.  (We just had our new daughter - she was early - mom was on bedrest - I’m working a lot)

Not this year.

But - I wanted to hear about it - how was it?

Miguel said, “Chris its not business as usual anywhere right now.”

I didn’t understand - hadn’t been to the fair - and I thought - aren’t people going this year?

No word on attendance yet - that might be OK…

but businesses must know people aren’t in the mood to spend - and aren’t going to drop the investment to put up the booths that packed huge metal pole barns long as a football field - aisle after aisle of vendors piled on top of each other.  Our fair has two of those buildings up front and a third a walk away - all three always jammed with businesses.  Not this year.  Miguel said the second building he hit had only five exhibitors.

That even shocked me - he said some had booths - paid for - but no one was home - like a ghost fair.  Here that’s unthinkable.  But - I believed him.

This morning - Saturday - I took off early for a little work I wanted to take care of.  I wanted to hurry out to get back for some good weekend time later with the kids.  I grabbed the paper from the drive and threw it on the table.

Twenty minutes later - my wife calls my cell and asks, “Chris - did you see the paper?”

I said, “no - what’s in there?”

Wondering…

She said, “Its about the fair…”

Last night I told her what Miguel said about the fair.  She believed it - Miguel is believable.

Its just hard to hear.

The county fair is the culmination of the warm season and kids’ summer vacations - what there is of summer in the North Star State.  It is all things American - apple pie and corn dogs and midway and noise and games and music and animals - big swines, heffers, sheep, alpaccas, all kinds of them - big ones here.

And then there’s the bottled water vendor - fresh cold spring water - a dixie cup at the fair on a hot August day is worth a hundred dolllars.  And some new accounts …

New leads and accounts all across the county for him and the others who set up to show off their wares - amazing space age pots and pans and the insurance agency that gives away a nice old fashioned yard stick - same look and feel that my grandma’s yardstick had.

Hopefully you know what I am talking about here - because some things are universal and should never change.

For awhile they sort of have.

The vendors didn’t turn out for the fair this year and everybody noticed it - its just hard to believe.

First thing I did a couple hours later when I got home was check the paper.

Miguel told me.  He saw it himself.  I told my wife.  She saw it in the paper.  I still had to see it for myself.

I don’t know if county fairs are big where you are - but the Home Depot is.  Several months ago the big box about seven miles from here closed up - Out of Business.  Since then - restaurants closer by have gone under.

Its not business as usual anywhere.  Some of it is just hard to believe.

Its time to get serious about knowing what’s happening around - with a lot of what happened in real estate - people didn’t understand or want to - until it was too late.

Better decisions can be made - not desperate ones.

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P.S.  There are definately people losing hard right now - hidden in all this is where people are not missing …

Stay tuned.

Gotta run and finish the weekend with the family.  Some things are business as usual.  Thank God for that.