Every year, as the town's fiesta patronal draws near, the town center comes alive with a frenzy of activities. Merchants line the street with goods, everything from cooking ware to the gadgets I don't recognize (all made in China of course). In the center of it all and the main attraction is the traveling fair with its rides and lights and bizarre shows.

During the day, the fair ground is quiet and still. But as dusk falls, the lights turn on, rides go 'round and 'round, and a good population of the whole town converges there. Folks like me also gravitates to the fair like moths attracted to the bright lights. The sights and sound reminded me of growing up in a small provincial town. I had a chance to shoot some photos of the fair last year in Mayantoc, and this year I wanted to see what's new (or maybe more aptly whats the same).

spacecraft

First thing that caught my eye is the orange pods of the "Octopus" ride with its very bright lights.A long exposure shot of the ride turned it into an alien spacecraft.

scared?

I did not see the freak shows of the previous year, but this scary ride was rightly framed by sinister looking branches.

My favorite and judging from the line in front of it, favorite of others too, is the Ferris wheel. A "behind the scene shot" yielded this photo:

the driver

A closer look at the ride revealed something disturbing. In the midst of the light and the shouts of glee is a  quiet young man, obviously bored and tired from ushering folks into the pods. He just sat there with a blank stare. Does he go to school? I hope so, but knowing this is a travelling fair I sincerely doubt it. A friend said he wondered about the "normal" lives of these folks, usually families with children in tow.


All around the fair are small games, some as harmless as this coin toss (see photo below), some full blown gambling with thousands of pesos exchanging hands. Its Disneyland with a casino inside. Does anyone ever really win at these games? Probably not, but you have so much fun doing it you won't really care.

the coin magnet