So last evening, The Wife and I went down to Follansbee, West Virgina, her hometown, for the last night of the yearly "Community Days" celebration. We parked at my in-laws, who live on the South End of town, and walked the few blocks up to the fair.
I had a superbly greasy cheese steak with all the trimmings and handcut fries, and a slice of Curly's Pizza. Not my favorite 'zza (makes me gassy, truth be told), but it's pretty good. Then, we just walked up and down the street, checking out the games and vendors and greeting people we knew. Thousands of people come for this thing, too. It's amazing.
It's nothing fancy really; they block off one street of the tiny city of Follansbee and string yellow lightbulbs for about 300 or 400 feet, set out a few dozen picnic tables, and let'er rip. It begins with a parade on Friday afternoon. This year, the 100th anniversary of the founding of Follansbee, the big draw were Budweiser Clydesdales.
Vendors for the fair itself have to be residents of, or have a business or organization in, Follansbee or nearby, say, within five miles. This assures that all monies raised stay in the general area.
No garishly-colored, brightly-lit, nomadic "festival trailers" here; only tented booths and kiosks. Schools and local organizations set up games and food booths to raise money for their various programs.
But they have so much to choose from. You can get anything from handmade clothing and crafts to jewelry of varying quality and types to Avon to Pampered Chef to Home Interiors to the usual street-fair novelties and junk.
The food is fantastic, if a little pricey.
Nearly every locally-based restaurant (and even a few chains, too, like Domino's Pizza) in the Follansbee area sets up a booth and serves their wares. The best stuff, though, comes from the groups, like area churches, the Boy Scouts, Eagles, VFW, Moose and other organizations. I believe it's the BSA that makes those great cheese steaks I mentioned.
A large stage area is set up next to the Police Station, and from Friday afternoon to Sunday night, ten to twelve local bands entertain the crowd arrayed before them, sitting in folding lawn chairs, or on the city-provided benches and bleachers.
They usually have at least one moderately famous group or performer (usually someone either past their glory days or just heading into them), to be the big, last-night draw. This year it was "The Tymes", a mildly geriatric "Temptations" ripoff group that I never heard of. They weren't bad, though, really.
The big draw, though, on the last night of the celebration, is the fireworks. Follansbee Community Days is renowned for their excellent fireworks display, set to musical accompaniment. Last night, they ran for a solid thirty minutes, with the music ranging from patriotic standards and country to some AC/DC and G-N-R. It was like a half-hour-long Grand Finale, so when the Grand Finale finally came, it about knocked you on your ass. Filled the whole sky.
Better than the Steubenville, OH/Weirton, WV combined July 4th display. In pissy little Follansbee.
It's always the second weekend in July, or thereabouts. If you're in the area next year, come on down. You'll love it.