Fair and fare time

In one area, at least, the North Carolina State Fair is a sort of Twilight Zone. Otherwise responsible human beings, who count out their vitamins every morning, measure their exercise with one of those wristband devices and pack healthy lunches for the kids, go October crazy along the midways at the fair.

“We’ve got to try one of these.” Now there’s a phrase you’ll hear a thousand times in a one-hour walk through the fairgrounds. The “these” will apply to fried candy bars, cotton candy, sausage and peppers and onions. And this year, a new feature as reported by The News & Observer’s Andrea Weigl will be deep-fried pimiento-cheese hush puppies with bacon, jalapeno and bang bang sauce.

Step right up, responsible human being, and toss caution and your gall bladder to the wind.

Ah, well, from the gentleman of our acquaintance who goes every day to the moms and pops who take the kids once with the steely determination of battlefield officers, the fair inevitably turns out to be more fun than we thought it was going to be.

And, thankfully, the night air is turning crisp. So go ahead, human beings, and let yourselves go. Nothing a little antacid won’t fix. Tell yourselves that anyway.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Fair and fare time."