Fair time is your time

It’s so noisy at the fair,

But all your friends are there

And the candy floss you had

And your mother and your dad.

 

Oh, to live on sugar mountain

With the barkers and the colored balloons

You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain

Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon

You’re leaving there too soon

 

There’s a girl just down the aisle,

Oh to turn and see her smile

You can hear the words she wrote

As you read the hidden note.

 

Oh, to live on sugar mountain

With the barkers and the colored balloons

You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain

Though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon

You’re leaving there too soon.

 

Thanks for that, Neil Young. It’s true, you can’t be twenty and live on Sugar Mountain.

But you can be sixteen a few times each year, no matter what your chronological age. Christmas brings out our inner child, but the roles between parent and kid are established by tradition.

Vacation can do it, too—though we often spend vacation time dreaming about the future rather than living in the present.

The county fair, though—or the annual church carnival or the firemen’s carnival—that’s truly a time for all of us to be young, no matter our real ages. The food, the music, the rides, the animals, the pride in our friends (or kids of our friends) for their livestock or cooking or other talents.

For the middle-aged and elderly, we see good people we haven’t see since the last fair, and are reminded of all the good times we’ve had. All the carefree days we’ve been privileged to enjoy. All the friends who have been there when we needed them.

It may be true. You can’t be twenty on Sugar Mountain.

But who’s to say you can’t be 16 and visit from time to time.

The annual Clarke County Fair takes place August 10-16. See a snapshot of activities on page 4.

Be there, be young. Be you.