166. A Walk at the Fair

Late last night I took a ride on Mr. Ferris' invention - the Ferris Wheel. After a day volunteering at the State Democratic Party booth in the South Hall of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center - except they dropped the "Fair" part of the name some time ago in an attempt to upscale their identity, my friend Jessie said she would like to ride the Ferris Wheel. It is probably the only ride that I like to ride - I'm pretty much a scaredy-cat on the others - I could attribute it to age but I had the same concerns as a teenager. I tend to stick to Ferris Wheels, bumper cars, and maybe a Water Ride of some sort.

So, sometime around 9:30 pm, we made our way across the Fair's Center Drive, full of Army tanks, popcorn and pizza vendors, and a few music halls, one of which was advertising the group RUOK?. RUOK? is (or maybe was) a rock group made up of guys I knew in high school and college. Drummer Jerry Rubeieau (I never relly knew how to spell it, but it is pronounced roo-bee-oh), Guitarist Tony Schnell, and a lead singer named Kirk something, were all the rage along Preston Highway in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I even rented an apartment from them for a while in the old Camp Taylor Hotel building on Reservoir Avenue. But, how quickly I digress.

We walked over to the entrance to Kentucky Kingdom and wound our way along the wooden plank paths to the big Ferris Wheel, called the Giant Wheel at Kentucky Kingdom - there is a smaller one over in the Midway. For a small fee, she and I climbed into the gondola (one of forty on the 150 foot tall wheel) and got to ride around and around six and one half times, taking in the sights that can be seen from atop the circling machine; to the north the city's skyline, especially the Aegon Building, which is Louisville's tallest; to the east the Kaden Tower and the lights around all the Watterson City towers; to the west the variety of blinking lights which sit atop the variety of LG&E steam-stacks up and down the Ohio River, along with the arched facade of the Caesers Casino Hotel, opposite Cane Run Road on the Indiana side of the river; the view to the south is for the most part overwhelmed by all the lights from Louisville International Airport, the international airport from which you can fly to any destination in the world if you are in a box with a UPS sticker, but otherwise can only go to Montreal, PQ directly.

After the six and a half spins on the Ferris Wheel, we walked over to the old-fashioned Midway, which for some reason didn't seem as crowded or as "county-fair-ish" as I remember it from the past. The Midway was filled mostly with teenage couples, although few of them seemed to be riding the rides or shooting baskets in exchange for stuffed animals. And through it all, rock music was being played at much-too-high a level, pealing out tunes I have never heard, just as I am sure some adults felt when they went through the Midway when I was a teenager.

Maybe RUOK? was there somewhere in my mind, playing the latest hits from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It was a nice way to end the night.