Monday, June 27, 2011

Hebron, CT gets an early jump on the Fourth of July


Happy 26th of June, I mean 25th of June, I really mean Happy 4th of July.  Josh and Jen, my nephew and niece, invited us to see the fireworks display at the Hebron Fairgrounds. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, but because they predicted rain, it was postponed to Sunday, when it actually did rain.  We met at their house, got some chairs and drove to the fairgrounds.  Very pretty setting, if the middle of nowhere is your thing.  It’s my thing, so we made a date to go to the Hebron Fair in the fall.   

As we approach the fairgrounds, I begin to smell fair food.  Yum! We pick a nice spot, set up our chairs, and begin our hunting and gathering.  First stop, Philly Cheese steaks.  I get mine “wit,” my wife on the other hand runs screaming and crying at the mere mention of peppers orders her “wit out.”    We get some lemonade in a souvenir cup and sit down.  Soft roll, shaved meat, onions, peppers and Cheez Wiz.  Pretty tasty, but small. For eight bucks I want a foot long tour de force. Sal promised me part of hers’ as she said she couldn’t possibly finish it.  I come up gasping for air after crushing mine in record time and she is stuffing the last morsel into her mouth.  Liar!  Oh well, onto dessert.

My favorite fair food is fried dough.  What could possible be better than light, crisp, calorie dense, nutrient free, fat-ladened, deep fried bread?  I dunno!  Josh and I go for the powered sugar; Jen and Sal opt for the marinara sauce.  These were supposed to be super sized, but mine was the runt of the litter, only measuring twelve inches in diameter.  Josh, on the other hand, got one that was about the size of a bicycle tire.  I tear into mine.  Steaming hot, crispy, chewy, sweet, gooey and greasy.  I finish this in record time.  Josh takes pity on me and tears a Frisbee sized hunk of his dough and plops it on my plate.  A few quick bites and that’s gone too.  Sal wasn’t happy with the marinara sauce.  “It didn’t taste Italian enough.”  I’m too busy brushing six pounds of confectioners sugar off my shirt to care.

We sit and chat for a while and then of course it begins to rain.  People running to and fro to get out of the rain.  No mean feat considering all of the buildings are closed.  Some people, stand under the eaves.  Some of the smarter ones open their umbrellas.  I put my hood up and hunker down.  It rains on and off for an hour. We are having a good time, so it doesn’t matter. 

Anyway, all of this rain is making me hungry.  Hmmm, let’s see, stuffed potato? No, too many carbs.  Pizza?  It’s Pepe’s or nothing.  Nachos?  No señor.  Ah, root beer float.  Now that’s the ticket!  A big pull on the soft serve handle sends a huge stream of vanilla into the cup.  A shot of root beer and we are good to go.  Sweet, cold and creamy.  Awesome. 

Finally the rain stops.  The lights go off and the first rocket screams towards the sky.    Boom! The rocket burst with a brilliant explosion of color. Ooh!  The next one--Ah!  Thunderous blasts of color illuminate the sky.  The concussions vibrate in your chest. The grand finale begins with dozens of rockets screaming skyward.  One rocket after another, booming, bursting, painting the night sky.  Sadly the last rocket explodes and the lights are turned on.  We pack up and make our way back to the car.  We all agree that it was a great show.  Family, food and fireworks, not a bad way to spend a summer evening. 

No comments:

Post a Comment