Many summers ago -- when Machinery Hill had real tractors and combines on display -- I volunteered with a friend counting the number of people going into various buildings at the Minnesota State Fair. Why grade-schoolers were entrusted with collecting Fair attendance figures, I'll never know. I didn't care. But what interests me about the story now -- as a father -- is that I was a tween at the Fair. On my own.
It's a memory that emerged as I re-read F. Scott Fitzgerald's wonderfully bizarre short story about the Fair -- which features 15-year-old boys wandering the grounds, finding girls, and riding Ye Old Mill (tunnel of love).
Fair-going parents: At what age have you (or will you) allow your kids to split away from you at the Fair? What rules do you have? How frequently do you meet with them to check in? And where is the best meeting place? Let's hear your family Fair strategies!
The answers depend on so many things, including your kids' maturity and desire to explore. And it's a whole different matter for kids staying at the dorms or 4-H building; they have to know their own way around out of necessity. Smartphones would seem to make it easier to split up as a family but stay connected, especially with the new State Fair app that makes it easier to navigate the fairgrounds.
Personally, I have no desire to split up. The Fair remains a true family event. It's a test of the Olsons' collective will to see how much food we can eat, how many exhibits we can visit, and how much free junk we can collect together before we run out of steam. But my son and daughter aren't getting any younger. One of these years, their diverging interests might fuel their desire to come to the Fair with friends and leave dear old mom and dad faster than I can say cheese curd.
The Fair doesn't have a set age limit on when kids need to be with their parents. On a related matter, it does have a protocol in the event that children get separated unintentionally from their parents or lost. This from Fair spokeswoman Brienna Schuette:
With young children, it probably doesn't hurt to put their identification (and parents' cell phone number) on paper and put it in their pockets or backpacks.
