If you live in Northeast Grand Rapids, you understand the ritual.  Starting last week on a daily basis, you started taking the extra block or two north to see what had been delivered to the Itasca County Fairgrounds.  It's not like there is a ton of change each year, but you just had to see what was on those white semi-trailers.  If you have kids, you must wait until at least Monday, like today, to take them with you around Crystal Lake or they will hound you with "when can we go" for days.

 I've been a fair junkie since I was born.  My dad (now 92) was a 4-Her and a Fair Board Director (Koochiching County), my mom a 4-H leader and my six elder siblings 4-Hers.  So it made sense that numbers 7 and 8 (baby brother) were 4-Hers too.  Fair was like a summer retreat for the whole family.  We lived out of the station wagon for a long weekend.  My kids will experience 4-H soon too, so it's good that they already have the fair bug. 

Watch for the watchictv staff members at the fair, too.  They'll be combing the corn dog and caramel apple stands starting Wednesday.