Fair fashion

County fair season is here. I’m pretty sure that with that comes its own breed of people. At every county fair, rodeo, music festival and outdoor gathering of the summer there seems to be a group of people that have their own interpretation of what fashion is. Some of these people act like they are dressing themselves for the first time and let’s be honest, they need a little help.

Now I myself am no master of fashion. I have one sport coat that hangs in my closet and only gets worn for weddings and funerals. I can search the pockets and find evidence of when I last wore it by the wedding program, or the funeral memorial booklet that I stuffed inside. Oddly enough, the pocket-sized pack of Kleenex comes in handy at both events. Getting back to the topic of fashion, dressing “country” or “western” is interpreted very differently by a wide range of fair goers. Those of us that live and work in agriculture every day are seen at the fair in our everyday attire. Worn out work boots, tennis shoes, Hey Dudes and real deal cowboy boots are found on our feet. You’ll see kids washing their steers at the wash racks with basketball shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt that they received last fall from their local school sports team. Pressed jeans and collared shirts are the norm for kids in the show ring and in the rodeo arena. All  these competitors and their parents are as “country” as they come, and none of them wear the wild fashion that is seen by some of the spectators.

As you gaze out across the grandstands, and look down the midway, you will be amazed by some of the outfits that you see. It’s better than a Broadway runway show and a fraction of the cost. I’m not sure that fringe was ever really in style, but out there in the middle of the fairgrounds you will find the guy who showed up wearing no shirt, a fringe vest, a straw hat with a rattlesnake hatband complete with the head and rattles, camo cargo shorts, and socks with sandals. Standing next to him will be his date. She came for the carnival and the foot long corn dogs. When she chose her outfit this morning, she decided that a bandana would double as a blouse. She’ll spend all day long adjusting it because it keeps sliding around. She found a pair of shorts that are about three sizes too small, and they’ll have something written across the seat like “juicy” or some other phrase that is ironic. Nobody told her that there were miles of walking at the fair, and she should probably wear shoes made for comfort, so instead she will have on a pair of stiletto heels with leather ties that wrap around her calf all the way to her knee. This duo will be seen wandering the carnival, starting fights in the beer garden, and asking the exhibitors if they can pet their cow in the show steer barn.

People watching at the county fair should be played like bingo. You could find a spot, sit and fill out your spaces for hours. Hat made from a box of beer, mark your card. Cowboy hat on backwards? Yep, mark it down. Dude wearing a fake bear claw necklace and wearing a knife on his belt from the movie Rambo? That’s the free space in the middle. Probably my favorite person to see at the fair is the wanna-be cowboy who bought brand new snakeskin boots, a dinner plate-sized belt buckle, skinny jeans, a long sleeve shirt that he rolled up to his elbows, and a one-size-fits-all cowboy hat at the local farm store before he came to the fair.

Go out and enjoy the fairs, the concerts and the rodeo’s this summer. Don’t try to be something that you aren’t and take a look in the mirror before you leave the house. Support the local youth and remember that fairs are meant to be fun. Drink water, put on sunscreen and remember to keep tabs on your side of the barbed wire. That’s all for this time, God bless.

Meinzer is a fourth-generation rancher raised on the southeastern plains of Colorado. He and his family live and ranch in Oshkosh, Neb.