Covering a Napanee Fair as a community reporter is a very different experience than attending a Napanee Fair as a parent of two kids.
This weekend this reporter got to do a bit of both, each offering its own unique experience.
As an ‘outsider’ so to speak, having grown up in another community, the annual Napanee Fair was not a summer rite of passage for this reporter. That meant the first taste of the fair didn’t come until this scribe was in his early 20s, strictly there for the purposes of snapping a few photos and getting out of there. And so that’s how it was for the first decade or so on the job, most years hoping to avoid the weekend rotation that would mean having to work the August long weekend. Somehow one way or another, this reporter usually landed that assignment. A lot has changed since those early days on the job however and now as a dad in his mid (pushing closer to late) 30s, it’s a whole new experience attending with two daughters, age six and two. Last summer the oldest was bound and determined to work up the courage to ride the Ferris wheel. Standing in line, inching ever closer to the front and looking up at the imposing steel structure, nerves got the best of her. Next year she said.
Well next year was this year and that fear was faced and memories were made.
For the youngest it was no doubt an overload at times of sights, sounds and smells. Trying to keep her in one place while trying to watch a six year old while simultaneously trying to search out an interesting front page photo for the paper was exhausting at times, but yet another cherished memory. Likely the kind of mental souvenir that gets sweeter with time as the stress of the moment gets forgotten and only the heart-warming moments are committed to memory. (It’s the same selective memory that makes parents want to start all over with a second or third child despite the long nights and mentally and physically draining moments that come with raising a tiny human). For all the struggles it was certainly worth it-and one we’re already looking forward to doing again.
A hearty job well done goes out to all the volunteers who made the 190th Napanee Fair possible, making due when Mother Nature didn’t want to cooperate. The behind the scenes work often goes unnoticed, but without it, the countless family memories like those mentioned above wouldn’t be possible. Seeing some of the setup photos shared to social media in the days leading up to the fair really helped put into perspective how much work goes on in the hours leading up to the long weekend. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the hours of preparation that goes on the other 11 months of the year as volunteers organize such a huge event.
As always they managed to pull it off and give residents and visitors of all ages something to consider a highlight of their summer.
-Adam Prudhomme