Word: fair
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...parents of Fern and Avery Arable watch nervously as the children charge off toward the Ferris wheel and frozen custard, the merry-go-round and wonderful music of a bustling fairground. "Well, they've got to grow up some time," Mr. Arable says to his wistful missus. "And a fair is a good place to start, I guess...
...fair is both a world apart and the world in miniature, sharply distilled (if slightly distorted), where the earnest industry of the 4-H pavilion exists alongside the low appetites of the funnel-cake stand and the thrill seeking at the Tilt-A-Whirl. Where the three stages of life are marked by a first sno-cone, a first French kiss and a first ribbon for baking Bundt cakes...
Fashions change, but less so at the fair. Alongside the elephant ears and corn dogs, we now find empanadas and tacos de carnitas. Kids now compete in robotics as well as rabbit husbandry. Grandma's red balloon, which became Dad's Snoopy balloon, is now Junior's SpongeBob balloon. And the carnies now wear uniform shirts (with collars!)--though they're still missing some teeth...
What endures is the underlying vitality of the fair, the unapologetic streak of real life. The actual dirt. Genuine food grilled by volunteer firefighters or the high school booster club. Wailing babies. Odd juxtapositions, like the sign on the pig racetrack extolling the love of Jesus. The smell of animal dung. Girls in tight jeans and the boys who ogle them as their fathers visit booths touting dry basements and power tools...
...shots lower than eight years ago, he reckons. But Carnoustie's head greens keeper, John Philp, whose fingers are stained black by the course's soil, says such a tally would be an insult to the links' distinguished history: "Golf was never meant to be a fair game, or an easy one. We've got the reputation as being a beastly test, but that's what golf is - it's a beastly test...