Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories.
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I went to the Ohio State fair for the first time when I was somewhere around 12 years old. I went with a cousin of mine named Tom Lockwood. A lot of Tom’s life involved horses. He was in charge of the stables at OSU, and he kept a few horses of his own on his small farm North of Worthington.
At One time, Tom had a huge Belgium draft horse. It was, in fact, the largest grand champion stallion in the world. He took it to state fairs all over the country, where he displayed it with the tiniest horse I ever saw. Just about everything Tom did involved horses in one way or another.
Needless to say, we watched a lot of horse racing that day. Then Tom took me through some of the stables. He knew quite a few of the sulky drivers and horse owners. It was fun for a 12-year-old boy to listen to all that “horse talk.” I guess that’s why, for the next 25 years or so, whenever I heard someone mention the Ohio State Fair, the images that popped into my mind were of horse racing and the sulky drivers in their colorful outfits.
Then, sometime in the late 1960s, all that changed. My wife, Janet, and I took our two kids, Dave and Jenny, to their first state fair. I knew we would be doing a lot of walking, so I wore the most comfortable shoes I had. It was an old pair of tan and brown saddle shoes. I had had them for years, and they showed their wear, but they were as comfortable as my slippers and just perfect for walking all day at the fair.
The kids had a great time going on the rides and seeing all the animals. Then they both spotted that cable car ride that transverses the fairgrounds high above the crowds below. As soon as they saw it, they wanted to ride in it.
That sounded like fun, so the four of us headed for the ride. The thing we rode in was called a “gondola.” You wouldn’t believe how high we were above the crowds below. We not only could see the entire fairgrounds, but also we could see for miles. Both kids loved it. They pointed out things below, and the height didn’t seem to bother them a bit.
To tell the truth, I really wasn’t comfortable sitting in the gondola. Then it became windy, and the gusts were blowing us all over the place. That made me even more uncomfortable. That’s when I discovered that the best thing for me to do was to refrain from looking down at the crowds below. So I just stared at my shoes on the floor of the gondola. Oh boy, it worked. Even the wind gusts didn’t bother me.
I don’t know how long it takes to complete that ride, but I spent the entire time looking down at my saddle shoes. I studied all of the imperfections and scuffmarks. And I did that until the ride ended. I guess that’s why, when I think of the Ohio State Fair today, I no longer think of horse racing. I think of that old pair of tan and brown saddle shoes. By golly, I’d like to have a new pair like that today, but I don’t think anyone wears saddle shoes anymore.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at williamboyd514@gmail.com.