This photo essay is collected from nearly 10 years of visits to the Georgia National Fair. Every fall, students drive down from the University of Georgia in Athens to spend a day at the fairgrounds in Perry for Mark E. Johnson’s photojournalism workshop with one directive: “Don’t show what the fair looks like, show what it means.”
Words by Josina Guess | Photos by UGA Photojournalism Workshop
October 7, 2021
Fair time’s here. It’s cash-only, and hand stamps and wristbands and being out past dark and more colorful lights than the big city or even Christmas. It’s funnel cakes and corn dogs and french fries and popcorn and candy apples and boiled peanuts and lemonade. It’s spinning and twirling and walking dizzy through the crowd, your stomach rising to your mouth. It’s slipping into line at the same time as your crush then giggling and hiding behind friends. It’s trying and tossing and shooting for a chance at a goldfish or a bunny or a stuffed animal that always looks softer than it is. It’s seeing your teacher in jeans and a T-shirt pushing her baby in a stroller, and you aren’t sure if you should say hello or pretend you don’t see her.
Fair time holds memories that aren’t even yours. It’s the stories your aunts and uncles tell you of having the best-looking Jerseys this side of the Appalachians. It’s the photos of your granddad walking a prize heifer around the ring, so humble and proud at the same time. It’s the blue ribbons on your grandma’s rose geranium jelly and the biggest pawpaws from her tree. It’s the raffle for the quilt and the smell of fresh hay, and even the manure smells clean.
Parents let the tattooed men strap their children into steel boxes and cages. Legs dangle, flip-flops drop, and ball caps flutter down. The air is full of happy screams, and the music is country and rap and oldies and rock, and you wish there was one radio station that played all this music.
Just arrived at the fair in 2019, Macon resident Judith Walker considers which of its enticements to take in first. The livestock exhibits won out, with the immaculately groomed goats a particular draw. (Photo by Hope Dockweiler)
Naya Higgins has her face painted at the 2014 fair. The Georgia National Fair was a vision of the state’s Agricultural Exposition Authority that first came to life in 1990. (Photo by John Roark)
Midway rides at night make for a dazzling spectacle in 2019. (Photo by Yekaterina Ko)
“Let her play, I’ll let her win,” Joe Kellems yells to fathers, friends, and husbands as crowds pass his balloon game at the 2019 fair. (Photo by Taylor Gerlach)
Aniyah Wormen of Roberta, Georgia, at the wheel of a bumper car at the 2018 fair. The road worrier braved the ride twice and got stuck in a corner both times. (Photo by Savannah F. Cole)
Fairgoers enjoy a bird’s-eye view from the Agri-lift in 2015. (Photo by Hannah Kicklighter)
Famished fairgoers will make short work of the burgers that Alexis Nieves prepares before the crowds descend on the 2017 fair. Nieves, from Miami, said she loves working at fairs because she gets to travel around for free. (Photo by Emily Haney)
Karen Koesler plies her sweet trade as a worker with vendor Perfection Confections at the 2018 fair. (Photo by Miranda Daniel)
Anthony Browning, from Kennesaw, Georgia, follows his nose to the Taylor’s Doughboy food truck in 2015. (Photo by Savanna Sturkie)
Freebird (aka Mark Brooks), from Griffin, Georgia, at his balloon stand in 2018. At the time, he was a 35-year veteran of the fair. (Photo by Becca Beato)
Justin Ball, from Texas, awaits customers at his booth at the 25th annual fair in 2014. Ball, who’d worked at the fair for 10 years, said he was saving up to buy his own booths.
(Photo by Mercedes Bleth)
Corn dogs, Coke, and blue sky on a sunny Saturday in 2018. (Photo by Gigi Kwan)
A ferris wheel at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. (Photo by Rebecca Wright)
Georgia National Fair in Perry, Georgia (Photo by Savanna Sturkie)
Funding for the workshop is provided by the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism.
“Fair Time” is available in Issue No. 2 of The Bitter Southerner magazine.
Josina Guess is Managing Editor for the Bitter Southerner. She has written for Fourth Genre, About Place Journal, Sojourners, and more. Read more of her writing about mothering, land, and healing at josinaguess.com. Follow her on Twitter @josinaguess.
Header Photo: Waiting at a food stand at the Georgia National Fair in Perry on a Friday evening in October 2019. Classic midway fare is one of the many thrills of the annual fall event, which runs for 11 days. (Photo by Gemma DiCarlo)
