I took my family to the Pacelli High School Panacea last Friday. We had never been there before, although I knew what to expect because I’ve written preview stories about the event both this year and last year.
The main reason I took my family was because I knew there would be rides at the event, and my 3-year-old son, Braden, hasn’t been on any rides this year as we haven’t been to any place with them.
In past years we’ve taken him to the Waushara County Fair when we lived in Wautoma, but that option wasn’t readily available this year, as we now live in Plover and we were busy both weekends the two fairs were held in Portage County.
Upon our arrival at Panacea, I was surprised to discover not just three or four rides, which I was expecting, but an entire fair-like number of them, including a ferris wheel, mini-roller coaster, zipper, gravitron, super slide, tilt-a-whirl, fun house and train.
Braden enjoyed the little kiddie rides at the Waushara County Fair in the past, but they weren’t anything he got too excited about. He took one look at the rides at Panacea and was immediately begging to go on them.
I didn’t have a problem coughing up money to buy tickets for them, mainly because I didn’t have to pay to get into the event. It would have cost three of us $20 to get into the Waushara County Fair, money I could use at Panacea to buy ride tickets for Braden.
The first ride he went on was a simple car ride, but it whipped around the corners with a charge that sent Braden into a fit of giggles.
He followed that with a ride on the train, which he returned to four more times. He selected the engine car, which was already occupied by a little girl. The little girl didn’t mind sharing the car with him and the pair ruled the tracks, honking constantly and steering the train as if they were actually driving it.
Braden then wanted to go on the mini-roller coaster. I was hesitant to allow him on it, afraid that he would become frightened of it once it started moving. My wife, Jenny, said it would be alright, though, so he got aboard, in the front car of course, and erupted into more giggles to my relief once it started.
Jenny, a fan of the tilt-a-whirl – a ride I hate because it makes me feel sick – then took Braden on that ride. He enjoyed it, but he banged his eye while spinning around so it wasn’t his favorite.
He cried when we decided to leave after using all our tickets and eating some food. He wanted to stay, of course, but he had a bed waiting for him at home since it was getting late.
I didn’t go on any rides, mainly because my legs are too long to properly fit on most of them, like the bumper cars that Braden really wanted to go on but was too young to go on by himself. I also don’t like rides that spin around too fast, like the tilt-a-whirl, because they make me sick. I didn’t have this problem when I was younger, probably because my head wasn’t full of all the useless information it now possesses, making it more prone to dizziness.
In fact, when I was younger wristband day at the fair was one of my favorite days of the year. My mother took me to all sorts of county fairs every summer, including ones in Waushara, Green Lake and Waupaca counties. Those days wristbands were only $5 or $6, making it an affordable family activity. Like Braden, I probably cried when it was time to go home, wishing I could ride the rides forever.
When I was in middle school, I met Jenny for the first time at the Waupaca County Fair, although I don’t remember her and she doesn’t remember me. But we both remember a mutual friend getting sick on a ride.
She and I may not have fell in love on first ride, but she’s also four years younger than me. That would have been wrong at the time, and thankfully it wasn’t until years later that it happened or else things would have turned out vastly different, since young romances rarely last.
A ride eventually did bring us together for good. We had started dating but weren’t committed to each other. She had another date, with a guy that took her to Great America. They rode on a lot of rides together, but she told me afterwards she kept thinking about me while riding with him. Neither of us ever dated another person again after that day.
I’m sure everybody has stories about how fair rides have provided special memories throughout their lifetimes. And even though the rides aren’t cheap, they are well worth the price to obtain those memories.
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