Went to the Hebron Firemen's Carnival last night with the family. Fourth or fifth time now. For those not in the know, Hebron is a town here in Maryland about the size of a walnut. Maybe 1,000 people live there. (Last official count is actually 807, I just check wiki.)
However, their fire station and fire trucks would make the NYFD jealous. And here's why: apparently "games of chance" are perfectly OK there with one small caveat, you have to be at least 16!!! And by games of chance, I mean chance. Picture if you will a giant wheel with numbers on it, a table with said numbers on and a sign that says "All bets must be placed before wheel is spun." Sound familiar? Granted, you could only bet a dollar per number; but still- 16 years old and you can play all you want. Then there's the $10,000 raffle at $10 a ticket (to be awarded the last night of the car-nee a few months down the road.) If the thought of winning cold cash doesn't make you reach for your wallet then there's the raffle for the 30-30 rifle. Mind you, the entire carnival- rides, food, games, restrooms, picnic tables, etc. is setup around the main attraction: B-I-N-G-O! And if you win five times during the course of an evening you get your pick of what appears to be the remains of Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward, both of which are now rotting away in department store hell awaiting K-Mart's arrival. Sorry for the long sentence.
Did I mention this was put on by the local fire department? I tend to think of safety and caution when one mentions a fire department. Probably a field trip ingrained this on me. Safety be damned at Hebron! If you want to hold your infant child in one hand and a lite cigarette with the other while enjoying a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl or Scrambler, go right ahead. Seriously. Ok, I'm kidding about the cigarette, the attending car-nee will hold it for you and if you are related to them there might be a drag or two left when the ride is over. I did take my three year old daughter on both of these rides. Don't tell her, but she is kind of a runt standing 36" tall. When the Scrambler door closed, she was eye level with it. Maybe that's why you're supposed to be at least 42" tall, so you can see what's going on. On the Tilt-A-Whirl she leaned against the side and stretched her little legs across the bench, not bothering to hold on to anything.
We had an awesome time and will be going back next weekend.
