As I grow older, I place a greater value on those places and people that connect me to my ever-receding past. Ohio State football, the Zimmerman family in Fort Thomas, KY, and the Upper Arlington Public Library all serve that purpose for me. Like a chain-link fence, these things connect me to where I am today to where I was 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. A few days ago, I discovered another link to the past, one I didn’t realize until I went there: The Ohio State Fair.

It was my wife’s idea to go there with three of our grandchildren. I was lukewarm to the idea until I realized taking them to the fair would keep them away from television and computers. So off we went, arriving just as the gates opened at 9 am. Our strategy was to walk to the south end of the fairgrounds and then proceed north, so we would finish close to where we parked. In the 5+ hours we were there, we did quite a bit. Highlights included:

•  Visiting a variety of farm animals. Our favorites were a Flemish Giant rabbit and a mother pig with her nine 2-day-old piglets.
• Going kayaking in a pond with Niko, my oldest grandson. (It was awfully crowded, but we still had fun.)
•  Seeing butter-made images of the Apollo 11 astronauts.
•  Getting a lecture on household items that can and cannot be recycled. (I won’t be putting aluminum foil in the recycle bin anymore.)
•  Making a miniature tiller with Alek, Niko’s younger brother, and then testing it on a little patch of sand.

After getting some lunch in the crowded Taste of Ohio Café, we split up. The boys went with me to the Nintendo Game Center while Becky and Naomi took the sky glide to the Decorative Arts building. Rather than try anything and embarrass myself, I watched Niko and Alek play a variety of flashy, rock-em-sock-em games. The most interesting one had two teams trying to splatter their color of paint over a multi-level building. Whichever team had their paint covering more parts of the building won. While the boys fought it out with other Nintendo competitors, Naomi was trying her hand at embroidery, needlework, and hooked rugs. Her experience led her to take steps to buy her own rug-hooking kit. (“Will Daddy let me wash his car?”)

By the time we took the kids home and made it back to our house, Becky and I were dead tired. Five hours in the summer sun had soaked up our energy like a giant sponge. Later, as I reflected on our adventures that day, memories of past State Fairs flooded into my mind. My son Jonathan dropping a huge strawberry ice cream cone on the ground — and me scooping most of it up so he would stop crying. Taking part in a water balloon fight, using giant slingshots to hurl the balloons. Admiring my sister’s paintings that were on display in the Fine Arts Building. Listening to my mother worry about whether the animals were being treated kindly. Riding the “Wild Mouse” roller coaster. Putting my tongue on cotton candy and trying other unhealthy foods. It soon dawned on me that like OSU football and the Upper Arlington Library, the State Fair was a link to the past; one that I had not appreciated until now.

I don’t know what I’ll be doing next year when the State Fair comes, but if possible, I’ll try to go at least one day. Maybe I’ll buy some cotton candy this time.