At the Marquette County Fair there are pigs named Happy, Pig, Oink, and Betty. A lamb named Chops; cows and goats and hens and rabbits and a horse named Rock Star who sleeps through it all. Championship rhubarb and berries and quilts and flowers and dill and seven blue-ribbon purple beans laid in a neat row on a round white plate. Blue ribbons, red ribbons, a festoon of ribbons; jams and jellies and pies and cakes. Displays of old tools, old living rooms, old kitchens, old sleds and sleighs and skis. Displays of a different time when time was different. Outside a tangled snaky line leads to a Croatian food booth. Next to the line, hundreds of chickens turn on parallel spits over hot coals and with each revolution legs flop over in unison. They say the county fair is as American as apple pie; I go for the buffalo burger, ignoring the nachos, hamburgers, corn dogs, mini donuts, pizza, ice cream, and elephant ears. On stage Tiny C. Hart and the Hartbeats play classic country tunes. 
They fall into burning rings of fire, waltz across Texas, drink in bars, admit to being the only Hell their mama ever raised. Two-steppin' couples turn the nearest walkway into a dance floor and Tiny croons about lips that can't say goodbye. Clatter from the Midway wafts through on the breeze, mixing and blowing away with the Croatian chicken smoke. It is all color and sound and merry-go-rounds. Bumper cars and tilt-a-whirl and fishing for prizes, pop the balloon, get the ball in the basket, play Kentucky Derby, win a prize, lose your money. Guys flirt with girls and girls giggle and flirt with guys. Kids fly through blue evening air on metal swings and 3-year-olds ride a Western train on an oval track while listening to the music of a 1956 sock hop. Each ride plays its own: hip-hop, country, rock. Back at the bandstand the Hartbeats play honky tonk blues. Classic cars jam the dance floor with staccato beep-beeps and brash i-OOO-gahs. Fins and Ramblers and fire trucks; pick-ups, convertibles and campers. Tawny brown and green grasshoppers leap out of the way. Tiny C. Hart plays on, singing an American song.
Where the buffalo roam
