The County Fair – First Three Evenings

Wow – what an experience! I had no idea what to expect, and the Fair has lived up to that expectation.

We’ve been at the Fair Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Each evening we arrived about 6:00. We’ve left at various times…

Tuesday and Wednesday were VERY hot (as we arrived at the Fair Wednesday the temperature was 104 degrees). We have an awning, but I’m usually standing in front of it so I get a bit of sunshine until the sun sets about 8:30. Thursday evening was cooler – but was also raining! Yet it was only sprinkles, and they stopped after an hour or two.

We gave away about 400 drinks on Tuesday evening, and probably about 1,000 tracts. And yes – everyone was right – we quickly ran out of water. We brought a much larger percentage of water on Wednesday evening and gave away close to 600 drinks (and probably 1,500 tracts). It’s funny to watch little drink carts drive up and down the main walkway advertising $1 soda’s/water – while we have them for free.

We’ve had lots of opportunities to share the gospel. Besides giving out tracts with drinks as time permits, a good portion of my time each evening is spent in front of the booth making balloon animals and hats for children. It definitely helps draw people to the booth! I’ll usually give the children a tract with the ten commandments in it (designed for children) – and always make sure their parents are OK with it (I have yet to have any parent say “no” – they are always grateful!).

Despite spending most of my time making balloons, I still had opportunities to personally witness to several people on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. One evening I noticed a young fellow with his girlfriend standing in the walkway outside the booth – talking. I walked over and asked if they had ever gotten a million dollar bill. Neither had, and they both wanted one. I said it had the million dollar question on the back, asking whether they would spend eternity in heaven or hell. We kept talking and I was able to share with them for about five minutes.

One thing we’ve noticed is that a lot of the young people have short attention spans due to the excitement all around. It’s hard to interact with a group of three or four at once because they are always looking around.

Thursday evening was absolutely incredible. Due to the rain and cooler temperatures (about 30 degree’s cooler than Wednesday evening!) the attendance was lower, and less people stopped by for soda or water. However, we still gave away 200-300 drinks and a lot of tracts. We stayed later Thursday evening, and I kept doing balloons while they took down the awning and packed up the coolers.

What was amazing was the teenagers that then showed up! The carnival was shutting down (along with all the booths), but I don’t think they wanted to go home yet. I started doing balloons and sharing the gospel with a group of kids – and continued doing so for the next hour or so. I had a group of between 5 and 15 kids almost the whole time, and there were different ones (most would get a balloon, talk for a while, and then move on).

I gave out all the tracts I had in my apron pockets, and more after my younger brother showed back up (they had hauled everything to the van and were waiting) and fetched some more tracts. I found a more effective way to keep a group of teenagers involved in the balloons: make them all balloon hats, but work on the hats in a random fashion. I’d start by getting everyone one balloon twisted in the base hat shape – and put it on them. Then, as we kept talking (I went through the good person test with a number of the groups), I’d keep adding balloons to the various hats. Girls usually got flower hats, and the guys usually got wild and colorful "crazy hats".

In talking with one group, one of the girls said she had tried to commit suicide when she was younger, and that her father is in prison (for drugs) and her mother lives in a different state. A young fellow shared how his friend recently died. Amazing opportunities!

Some of the young people said they would stop by our booth this evening for a free soda and to talk some more.

If you want to learn some basic balloon twisting, get Balloon Magic - by Marvin Hardy. Amazon has used copies available for $2 or $3. The book is incredible. I use some of the basic shapes, and then do some additional hats I’ve learned elsewhere.

Then, go to T Myers web store. Order several 260 blaster pumps (they are very durable – but you’ll want to always have a spare.

Then, go to the list of Balloons.

I usually get the Qualatex 260Q carnival assortment (bags of 250 cost about $12), as well as Yellow Bee Bodies.

That’s all you need to get started!