Begining Excerpt:

Hardly seems like another year has gone by, but it's that time again for the annual Dutchess County Fair, in its 161st year. With Powers Great American Midways in and Reithoffer Shows out, the anticipation was greater, given the expected questions of what exactly was Powers going to do with the midway that hadn't already been done before.

Early in the week, several of my co-workers attended the fair. Not being carnival folks, or even carnival fans for that matter, I surprisingly didn't even have to ask them about the midway -- everyone I talked to noted that the midway was cleaner, neater, and better than the previous year. The fact that they were aware that another carnival was playing the fair was a bit surprising, but after giving it some thought, a very big deal was made of the change on the midway by the fair.