Friday, August 27, 2010

Grand A"Fair" - Day One...

Wow...it was packed...automobiles lined both sides of the streets for blocks...filling church parking lots...children filled with excitement...people wheeling in in wheel chairs...I kid you not.  Not on the south side of town...but the north.  Day one of the State Fair...and Skagway North...GI's long-time super market puts on it's annual free customer appreciation barbeque with live entertainment at Abbott Park across the street from their store.  I bet there were over a thousand people served.  Didn't see any out of county freeloaders...it was a majority of hard working Grand Island people.

Heineman was at the State Fair Grand Opening with his toothy cheerleader smile working the crowd...Mike Meister showed up in his Goodwill suit...is it seersucker?...and bad mouthed the Gov. on the 6 o'clock NTV news.  Funny thing was...Heineman followed Meister and although he didn't throw any cheap shots back at Meister...he did go out of his way to make sure he said he wasn't going to lower himself by throwing any cheap shots at Meister like Meister threw at him.  A true gentleman politician wouldn't have even acknowledged that Meister made a cheap shot in the first place.  Sticks and Stones Governor.  Heineman's mistake of the day was not showing up at the Skagway barbeque and hanging out with some real Nebraskans.

One proud moment for GI and the State Fair came when our Mayor proclaimed..."Take a whiff...we don't stink anymore."

7 comments:

Uncle Wiggily said...

I hope this whole fair thang works out for GI ... Lord knows a lot of folks have worked mighty hard at it.

If a tree doesn't fall on me, I hope to escort Mrs. W to the fair either Sunday or maybe one day next week. I like the livestock exhibitions and the funnel cakes.

I'm a little concerned about getting around ... I'm pretty much one-wheeled in my dotage, but I'll give it my best shot as long as I don't have to park in Hamilton County.

UW

One Out In The Third said...

Uncle...

Lots of positive comments...but in the end run money will be the decider if it is successfull or not. I don't think parking is going to be a problem. Enjoy your visit...I won't be going until Monday and Tuesday.

The Pip said...

Unk, that hurt. I'd be glad to give you free parking and free shuttle service from Hamilton Co.

I hope the fair does well.

Uncle Wiggily said...

No offense intended, Pip ... I was only expressing my hope that I could park within hailing distance of the ducks, bunnies and kettle-corn whilst attending the SF

I'm a big fan of Aurora and associated environs; after all, anyplace that could could produce Doc Edgerton is OK with me.

UW

The Pip said...

Sounds like the "Shooting Gallery" was open late last night. That is part of the big city atmosphere. Did they put up a fence around Little Somalia south of the fairgrounds? Hell, when I was a kid, we'd drop 15 bucks in the shooting gallery to win a one dollar Kewpie doll for our sweetheart, who'd drop us later.

A running gun battle through the streets of G.I. Too bad it didn't happen at two in the afternoon, so everyone could enjoy it. Officials say it was "gang related" You gotta be kidding me?

One Out In The Third said...

Unc...I said months ago...while they were still deciding where to move the State Fair...that visitors should probably bring their own Kevlar if they moved it to GI.

I may have been in my own little world as I watched the Sunday night 10 pm on NTV...but I swear they reported that the GI SWAT team showed up at the Bellwood Apts. and had the place surrounded creating a hubbub amongst the residents. This mornings foot-wide newspaper made no mention of the SWAT team...and the print version story on the NTV web page made no mention of them either.

Was I hallucinatin'? I don't think so. I think the "gang" they were talking about was the local media and Chamber of Commerce covering up the SWAT story. While the pistols the thugs were using would not have launched one into Fonner Park...less than a half mile away...a misfired SWAT shot could have made it to Fonner.

Funny how GI's crimes are tied to convenience stores...maybe we should have the GI Police assign "Resource Officer's" at the convenience stores like at the Jr. Highs and Sr. High to put the bite on crime.

Keep your head low and run serpentine.

The Pip said...

I hate to say I'm paranoid, but if I happen to need the late night services of a "Quick Stop and Rob" in GI, I do a quick drive by first to see who's hanging out.

It could be worse, when I was in Omaha last spring, ethnic diversity spilled into a city wide running gun battle that ended up with eight people being shot.

And they bitch about the cop's pay.