A Liquid Heart

During the year, the Marin County Fairgrounds can usually be a barren location to visit, with a few events and performances indoors. But on the week of Fourth of July, the piercing scream of kids and teenagers on the rides can be heard across the lake centered in grounds. If you enter in the back, one can smell the fresh nauseating farm animal manure, but just walk a few feet, and the succulent smell of grilled carne asada can pierce through the nostril burning sting of the manure. Walk past there on a none-fair weekend and you will have to withstand the ambrosial scent of manure. It is easy to view the whole fairgrounds when there aren’t shopping tents or other stands propped up, but it gives the grounds a desolate and melancholy feel to it; what may cheer up your mood is the freshness of the wind hitting your face and the calming sounds of the splashes emitting from the fountain at the center of the lake. Entertainments, food, music-these characteristics of the fair are what attract visitors from all over.

Many visitors to the fair would agree that the highlight occurs at night: the skies would explode with the colors of red light and blue and the fireworks would wow and dazzle kids of all ages. For me, though, the most exciting element of the fair is during the day, performing in front of many spectators. The host at the Ben and jerry’s stage would announce us, “Please welcome Chan Kahal”, and we would shuffle our feet onstage. Right now, this spot on the fairgrounds seems to look smaller than with the congestion of people during fair-time. In front of me lies a brown wooden building with sliding windows, like the kind you see in lines outside the cafeteria when you get food. I remember buying a burger here once. The vendors took about fifteen minutes in delivering the food, and what I ended up with was a burger straight from McDonalds, with the same wrapper and quality you can’t trust.

The performance buildings lie directly to the left and right from me. The walls of the buildings are a soft peachy color. Their roofs are blue, and on the sides surrounding the roof are yellowing lights. On the outside they don’t look like much, but if you go inside the building near the main entrance and go through the doors to the stage, hundreds of chairs will greet you. All these chairs put emphasis on the stage, where various performances have been held, like the African acrobats and magicians. Exit and you will see the calm and relaxing sight of the lake. As I walk towards it, I can see children running on the grass, shouting, “Tag, your it”, while parents sit on the picnic tables, gossiping and watching over their babies. On another side, lies a bridge which, during the fair, connects the area for rides to the rest of the fair. The section is not only used for the fair. That area has been used for the fair and for parties and for recreation and for boycotts and for teenagers to play sports while parents converse.

I lean down and stroke the top of the artificial lake with my fingers. The water feels cold and the water parts as my fingers slide through it. When I pull out my fingers, I pull out a soda can labeled Coca-Cola™, for that was the purpose of inserting my hand in the darkish green and brown lake. It seemed as though coke not only tainted the inside of one’s body, but would also damage the heart of the fair, for the fireworks were released at the center of the lake. This wasn’t a recurring habit for people because this was the only can in this blanket of water, but there are always a few people that harm the Earth without realizing their actions; throwing garbage where it didn’t belong, because it had become a habit.

The majority of people come to this fairground for the fair. They experience. They enjoy. They return. I know I will always return to this fairground because it is un like most fairs; the diverse shows it has to offer and its commitment to being one of the greenest fairs will please people; it evokes the feeling of reassurance and well-being people like, especially since it is trying to sell healthier food, without eliminating their taste. There are also many stands where every year there is a souvenir for every type of person, like the collectible Inuyasha sword sold at the Japanese stand. But I will return every year to perform and express my pride at my culture, and if I don’t get to dance, I will return to spend time with my family.

-Jhordy