The Missouri State Fair information season is officially underway with the recent reveal of the 2017 Fair theme: “Come Home.” Prepare for the tantalizing slow release of further fair information in the coming weeks and months.
But in the meantime It seems as though I’ve taken it upon myself to be the personal arbiter of Fair themes over the last few years – it’s always easy to criticize someone else’s hard work, I suppose. But I come here to praise the motto, not bury it. Sure, it’s simple: that’s the first thing that anyone would notice about it. But perhaps we’re living in a time where many things are too complicated.
For many the Missouri State Fair is like a second home – especially the people who see fit to use most or all of their vacation time for the year just so they can bring their RV or camper and experience the fair in it’s entirety. Those Fair die-hards deserve a little recognition.
But it’s also like a second home for the patrolmen, firefighters, vendors, ride operators, sound technicians, performers and journalists and others who spend day after day out at the Fair in the service of the people.
It’s appropriate that the Missouri State Fair would have a theme like that, since the University of Missouri is widely acknowledged as the innovators of the homecoming game concept. Yes, there is some dispute from schools like Baylor, Southwestern, and Illinois and even some truth to be found in their protests, but the MU celebration the one that really started to catch on.
The first homecoming game of note was in Columbia, Missouri in 1911 between the Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks and the homecoming crowd was rewarded with an undoubtedly thrilling 3-3 tie game. It has since spread to the rest of the world of college athletics and filtered down to high school level homecoming celebrations all over the country like the one at Smith-Cotton High School.
Maybe it would be appropriate to have a homecoming celebration at the fair this year. Maybe Mizzou could bring the team and the marching band and the Big Mo brass drum. I like Mizzou Central at the Mo-Ag Theater and who doesn’t love a little tiger stripe ice cream but I’d like to see even more of a presence of the Missouri’s top university and their competition teams at the Fair.
Too often we are unable to “come home” for one reason or another. It’s a privilege that we reserve typically for holidays, weddings, funerals or family reunions. But for some of us our family isn’t essentially the people that we’re related to by blood and home isn’t always the place we lay our heads at night. Hemophilia camp has always been my home away from home … it’s always comforting to be around familiar faces and sensations.
Maybe this is the perfect theme for bringing back the wayward Sedalians who think they’ve grown too cynical for the Missouri State Fair. Maybe there’s something to be said for the idea that familiarity breeds contempt. But even if you’re sick of it it’s still good for the city and the economy so at least recommend it to all of your out-of-town visitors.
Are you ready to come home to the Missouri State Fair?
