We went to the Minnesota State Fair today. We arrived early so we could take advantage of the cooler temperatures and thinner crowds. Our first visit was to the pig barn to see the largest boar. The boar was very big. We headed over to the Eco Experience and the U of M research building. I had my cholesterol checked. I was happy with 199 - totally within the normal range! After a snack of corn on the cob we made our way over to the DNR building to complete our volunteer job as Smokey the Bear (and handler). I had the first round of being Smokey. I donned the big jeans and the big bear feet. Next comes the vest with 8 ice packs in the pockets. On top of that comes the big beary arms and torso. Then the pants get attached to the torso and the belt is buckled. Although it feels like the pants are falling down and the crotch is down around my knees the pants are sturdily attached. We carefully walked down the stairs which is difficult because my size 15 feet are too long for the stair treads. At the bottom of the stairs I don Smokey's head and hat and head out to greet my many fans. Little people, big people, people of all ages love Smokey. Much of my time is spent posing for photos and hugging. My handler warns me who is coming so I can hold my hand out to shake, high five, or fist bump. If no one approaches me I like to approach others. I ham it up at the DNR information booth, leafing through the booklets as if a bear could read. Wearing the Smokey costume gives me psychological freedom to behave differently. At the DNR fish pond many people have their back to me. I go up to a couple older men and quietly put my paw on their shoulder and pretend to look at the fish. One older man got so scared to see a hairy paw on his shoulder he almost spilled his bear into the fish pond. LOL. Funny as heck. I got to hold a 3 month old. One little boy came up to me to give me a hug. After the hug he backed up, pulled his right foot back and kicked Smokey the bear in the shin! I felt it through my jeans. He kicked me in my good shin and not very hard. His mother was all over him; forced him to apologize. By the way she and he acted I was pretty sure this wasn't the first time he kicked someone. In my head I had a discussion. "Should I kick him back?" "No, Smokey the bear should NOT kick a little kid. Not funny." "What if I only appeared to kick him back? Just drew back my hairy foot but didn't make contact? Wouldn't that be funny?" "NO! Under no circumstances would a kick or a faux kick from a national symbol for nature be funny inflicted on a 2 year old." This whole conversation takes place in a split second and luckily a calmer head prevailed. I totally enjoyed every minute even though a drop of sweat dangled from the end of my nose for at least 20 minutes. My hour was up in no time and I took the costume off. I wore quick drying fabric and soon I was dry again. We had time to run half a block away and gets crepes for lunch. Mine was mushroom and swiss - delicious. Then we hurried back and I helped Offspring #2 get into the costume. Zipping up the fly and buckling the buckle on another person's jeans is really awkward. I handled Smokey for the second shift. "High five on the right. Fist bump on the left. Small boy approaching for a hug." I like to watch the faces of the little kids in strollers as Smokey approaches. Their faces show delight and fear and total uncertainty about what to do. I'm sure Smokey is on quite a few facebook pages today. When the second shift was over we took off the costume and set it in front of the fans to dry. We sprayed each piece with lysol so they will be fresh for Smokey to wear again tomorrow. We relaxed and cooled down a little bit before heading out into the fair again which was way more crowded than it was in the morning. We sat on the curb in the shade and enjoyed the people watching while we ate some ice cream. We stopped to do a little window shopping on the way back to the bus that would take us back to the parking lot. What a great day. Definitely going to do it again next year.
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