This humble blog was started to document our travels around the country during the summer of 2006, We have opted to continue updating it due to the requests from family & friends. Enjoy!
Friday, August 25, 2017
Fair Night
August 13, 2017
The Wild Reeds
Fair Night
The Indiana State fair at night is a totally different animal.
The focus shifts from the livestock barns and exhibits to the midway, a kaleidoscope
of lights, colors, sounds and smells that can only be found at a fair. The
darkness brings a sense of excitement and activity and the fair experience to a
new level. For the night portion of my fair going experience, my good friend
John joined me to take in the fair for a second time.
with John
John grew up on the same block of Park Avenue that I did,
just a few houses down and we have been friends something around forty-five
years. We have made many, many trips to the fair together dating back to our
early childhood and we also share a love of photography which makes the fair at
night a pretty awesome place to shoot photos.
In fact, the only ride we actually went on was the new
skyride that connects the two sections of midway and travels along the street between
the Grandstand and Coliseum. It was pretty cool to glide above the street and
get views of the fair from above the fray.
Personally I have not been much of a fan of midway rides,
at least since I was a kid. They seem inherently sketchy and unsafe, my fears
confirmed just last month when this same midway company had a tragic
malfunction at the Ohio State Fair in which a ride failure resulted in
fatalities. None of that seemed to dissuade the throngs of fairgoers lining up
to ride on the various rides. The carneys were busy as well trying to lure
passersby into playing the games of chance, which I also tend to avoid. Enough
people win to keep others coming back, but I prefer just to watch.
John and I wondered around the fair until maybe ten pm and
it was still going strong when we left, I wanted to get down to the Fountain
Square section of Indianapolis to catch a concert at the Hi-Fi club by a great
band, The Wild Reeds. I always check for who might be playing when I visit any
city and found that the Hi-Fi was hosting the band on the only night I was in
town.
Otis Gibbs mural at the Hi-Fi
The Wild Reeds
The band is fronted by three young women from Los Angeles
and is touring in support of their second full length release, “The World We
Built”. The band has a real indie-folk vibe with each of the women capable of
singing lead and also making for some impressive three part harmonies. The show
was fantastic and I am so glad that I made the effort to go.
The Wild Reeds
I did no capture any good video at the show, but I thought
I would include a video of the band covering the classic Beach Boys song, “Surfer
Girl”. You can get a feel for the harmonies they are able to replicate and a
sample of what the show was like. I love going to see shows at the Hi-Fi and
this was one of the better ones that I have had the good fortune to attend
The Wild Reeds
After the show, my friend Jenny drove down to meet me in
Fountain Square and we went out for a late night drink. It was so cool of her
to come out and meet me and great to be able to catch up. I didn’t have much
time to see a lot of friends this trip but did manage to squeeze in a quick
visit to my friend Amanda as well the following morning before my flight to
Colorado. I got to see her kids and meet her new dog Gwen as well. All in all
it was a great trip to Indianapolis.
One of my most favorite annual events is the Indiana State
Fair, I grew up about a mile from the fairgrounds in Indianapolis and every
year I would make multiple trips to the fair with friends, family and just
about anyone who would go with me. It was an annual tradition throughout the
time that I lived in Indianapolis and since I have lived in Key West, I have
tried to find some reason to be in Indianapolis in August to get back to the
fair.
Michele and Michael
This year, I had arranged to fly out to Colorado to join
Kathy, who has been there for weeks trying to oversee the construction of our
new house in Colorado Springs and I just decided to check and see how much more
the flights would be if I arranged for a quick one day stopover in Indianapolis
and to my great delight, the price was just about the same as just a roundtrip
to Colorado so I planned for a very quick stopover in Indianapolis to see the
fair as well as some family and friends.
I flew in late on Thursday evening and on to Colorado on
Saturday morning, which made for a short but fun-filled visit. I started at my
sister Michele’s house, she had some free tickets to the fair because she had
won the “Best of Show” prize in the sewing competition, she entered two
children’s dresses and they each won the best of show Blue Ribbon of all the
entries from the entire state. It is a pretty cool thing and for possibly the
first time ever I was going to head to the Arts building to see the sewing
competition.
I wanted to experience the fair both during the daylight
hours and again during the evening when the darkness brings alive the lights of
the midway. It is really two totally different experiences, both of which I
really love. On the way to the fair, I made a quick stop at Twenty Tap, the
beer taproom and restaurant owned by my friends Kevin and Tracy that was
damaged in a fire six months ago and that they have been busy rebuilding in
anticipation of reopening finally next week. One of the best pubs in the city
and one of my favorite places anywhere. Kevin and Tracy were on hand and
putting the finishing touches in anticipation of their reopening and I am so
happy and excited for them and everyone at Twenty Tap.
Kevin
The fair during the day is full of various competitions in
the animal barns. Farmers from across the state bring their livestock to the
fair to compete for the title of state champion in any number of livestock
competitions, none of which I understand but which I love nonetheless. Watching
these 4H farm kids proudly display their animals is really cool. I watched an
entire pig competition, which I had never done before. It mostly consisted of
kids, many decked out in spangled sparkly outfits keeping the hogs moving by
tapping them repeatedly with a long stick. Somehow the judge determined a
winner, though they all looked sort of the same to me, but as a city kid, I
just do not have the sophistication to understand the ins and outs of the
judging.
I toured the swine barn, the cow barn, the sheep barn,
poultry and horse stables, enjoying the chance to get up close and personal
with farm animals that I pretty much only see at the state fair. One of the
cool things that I love about the fair is the diversity that is on display
unlike pretty much any other place in the state with the possible exception of
some of the universities. The fairgrounds is located in an urban, pretty much
inner city part of Indianapolis and so urban families always attend in great
numbers where they interact with the plethora of rural farm kids and their
animals in a way that is truly cool to see.
I toured the exposition hall where a variety of businesses
set up booths trying to sell you all manner of junk, then the wonderful
department of Natural Resources building where huge aquariums display a wide
variety of native fish and other native wild animals. I toured the beer and
wine exhibit hall where Hoosier craft beers and local wines can be sampled.
But the highlight of course is the amazing fair food,
corndogs, elephant ears, fresh corn from the Lion’s Club booth, salt water
taffy from Sutter’s and more, there is always a wonderful assortment of Hoosier
delights to tempt the palate. I love it and eat way too much. And this was only
the first of two visits today as I was coming back at night for more.
In between visits, I headed out to the Daredevil Brewery
located in Speedway near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where my nephew Chris
had recently started working. It is a huge, popular and successful brewery and
it was cool to see Chris and see that he is doing pretty well since moving back
to Indianapolis from New York. The beer was pretty damn good as well.
About Us- We are Kathy Kilroy and Michael Blades and this blog was created to document our summer travels around the nation in 2006 and we have opted to continue posting to keep our friends and family informed of our lives. We each have lived in Key West for over 20 years and met and were married here in October, 2003.
The Wild Reeds 
with John
Otis Gibbs mural at the Hi-Fi 
The Wild Reeds 
The Wild Reeds
with Jenny 
Amanda
Gwen Stacy 
