Sunday, June 20, 2004
Hogday was filled with greased up pigs being chased through a dusty arena by men in overalls. It was also filled with giant vats of pork being stirred with wooden oars by sanitarily suspicious matrons. The highlight for us was when we got to actually mount the back of a giant hog and go romping through the fairground, holding on only by his bristly chin hairs! Oh, the times!

Well, not quite. But I think this is what my companions and I were hoping for. So, imagine our slight disappointment to find that "Hogdays" really means "Small Town Street Fair Exactly Like All The Other Small Town Street Fairs", complete with Bloomin' Onions and a sad little petting zoo. Though we did get to half-heartedly stroke a baby hog (who was being spooned very sweetly by another baby hog), there was a certain lack of...umm...HOGS at Hogdays. Aside from petting the slumbering babies, we also got to eat a mixture of award-winning pork that was slopped onto McDonalds buns. They were tasty sandwiches, but in the end, the whole event was a little less shocking than I wanted. I think I somehow wanted to be slightly appalled by the things I was going to witness there. Instead, it was charming and cute.

Apparently, there used to be a "Best Dressed Pig" contest (which would have been right up our alley)...but the hog that was the shoo-in most years died and the festival lost all heart for it. Sad for us all.

In other news, last night I met a girl who does all-girl roller derby and it is now what I want to do more than anything else. What a great sport! You rollerskate around and slam into other girls and knock them down! Imagine the cool bruises you would get and the awe you would inspire in less cool non-roller derby people! It is like women's rugby with a retro knee sock kick! If only I was staying long enough to join the league... ¶ 10:47 AM