Staffing the Dem Fair Booth

The usual underdressed and overweight crowd is at the Fair this weekend -- youth with hardware, burly men in muscle shirts, moms trying to steer bus-sized strollers laden with a couple of toddlers plus large stuffed animals (prizes?), balloons, diaper bags, shopping bags. A bunch of older people in wheelchairs who look like they ate themselves into immobility.

Our booth is in a fine spot – on a corner right by one of the main doors to the new exhibit hall, so you’d think folks would see us, but no. Most streamed by in a daze, not registering our presence at all – much less positively or negatively. Enough folks stopped to give us a thumbs up – and even sign up to be volunteers – that we felt our time was worthwhile. And not to have been there, when the Republicans were, would have made observant Dems wonder what was wrong with us if we couldn’t even get it together to show up at the Fair…

The gal selling a $259 vacuum-pack system in the booth across from us was having a slow day too. She says that weekend fair-goers are zonked from working all week - that weekday visitors are much more alert. She’s been doing the fiar circuit for several years and says that this is the worst year ever for vendors. “Nobody’s buying,” she said. “Folks tell me they just don’t have any spare cash these days. Other vendors say the same thing. I tell them, that's what you get for electing a president who is more concerned with rescuing his rich buddies from estate tax than giving the middle class a chance to make a living!”