#statefairs — Public Fediverse posts

Indiana State Fair 2026 Photos, Part 3: The Year of America’s 250th

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context... ...and one splashy theme recurred throughout the various exhibits of arts, crafts, cookery, and antiquing across all participating buildings: the 250th anniversary of July 4th, 1776, generally considered the date of birth of the United States of America. Granted, not all citizens observed the only semiquincetennial party our nation will ever have, particularly among a statistically significant percentage of the terminally online. No, America isn't perfect and never will be, which is kind of the point, no matter who's in charge. If you only love people, places, or things that are perfect, then how many absolutely perfect people, places, or things do you genuinely love? If you count more than one, you've gotten it wrong. As it happens, our road trip this year began over the Independence Day weekend and showed us evidence of folks proud to celebrate offline, about which I'll get to post about here someday when I get caught up on sharing our travelogues, Lord willing. Anne, for one, was excited to see America cross that milestone without preemption by the Second Coming, collapsing under a giant meteor, or being conquered by a conspiratorial Canada/Mexico tag-team invasion. She braked at every roadside attraction that acknowledged its happening and was overjoyed to see that same enthusiasm here at the fair. […]

https://midlifecrisiscrossover.com/2026/08/23/indiana-state-fair-2026-photos-part-3-the-year-of-americas-250th/

Indiana State Fair 2026 Photos, Part 2: The Year in VHS

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context... ...and once again the most interesting exhibit was hosted in the Harvest Pavilion: "Rewind: A VHS Revival". Same as last year's tribute to LP cover art, the curators started with a simple premise -- in this case, "Remember movies on videotape? Those were awesome!" -- and didn't tailor everything to Indiana specifically, so much as it hearkened toward ye olde American entertainment monoculture. They assembled a collection of simulated video-rental store shelves, videotape boxes, movie posters, painted recreations of posters and iconic images, a few educational sections about filmmaking, and so on. Their contributors offered some offbeat choices, so it wasn't all just Spielberg and Star Wars. […]

https://midlifecrisiscrossover.com/2026/08/23/indiana-state-fair-2026-photos-part-2-the-year-in-vhs/

Indiana State Fair 2026 Photos, Part 1: Our “Taste of the Fair” Tour, Worst to Best

It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context. Most years, we’re all about the food. Each time our favorite part is the “Taste of the Fair” competition, in which vendors showcase ostensibly new dishes in hopes of enticing foodies and/or impressing attendees who seek more to fair-life than eating the same tenderloin again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!) The TotF lineup is announced weeks in advance so everyone can plan their meals and experiments accordingly. […]

https://midlifecrisiscrossover.com/2026/08/20/indiana-state-fair-2026-photos-part-1-our-taste-of-the-fair-tour-worst-to-best/