On This Day

July 28

On this day, a dish towel hung from a screen door. Directions started with "I'll take you there."

There were neighborhoods named Happy Hollow and Sunset Strip. There were strings of lights and lanterns. Doors and windows left opened because there was no AC–no cool air to keep in.

There was the smell of bacon in the mornings, and Comeback sauce was served with tamales. Easter bunnies sat on pavilion pews, and Mississippi State and Ole Miss flags hung from some of the same cabins.

Folks went porch to porch, visiting friends and family. There were Fair rules: "We offer you something to eat, so that we can eat it, too."

A mother’s murals were still on refrigerators and walls many years after she painted them.

Lawn chairs were left by the rodeo fence. Pictures were taken of grandparents with grandkids.

Stories were told across the Fair at all hours. A father building a cabin, mothers getting a car stuck in a lake, and starting the “Miss We Don’t Give a Shit Pageant.” There were stories of a pet hog named Porkchop, and teenagers using the cabins in the months when no one was around. Boys sat on a porch hollering stories until 4 a.m.

Kids threw fart bombs during the Thacker Mountain Radio show. They splashed in mud puddles and rolled in the red racetrack dirt after the rain. Bluegrass was played on porches, and bets were made on crab races. Cell service was hard to find.

Antique cars pulled into the square as the praise band warmed up with "Great Are You Lord.”

A stranger was welcomed as a friend.

All on this day.