Get Your Happy On

Day 342: A "street candid" from the Puyallup Fair, and I am at a loss for words. The Fair's slogan for this year is "Get Your Happy On." This young man had obviously tried, but fell somewhat short of the mark if his expression tells the story. He was not a vendor advertising wares, nor a performer. Alone and lost in his thoughts, he was a simple fairgoer, one in a crowd of thousands. Perhaps he wanted to stand out, and to me he did; others did not give him a second glance where he sat moodily on a concrete bench. Fair prizes of all sorts surrounded him on the arcade, the glitter of plastic and sparkle of mylar insisting that no one can attend a Fair and not enjoy themselves, yet somehow their arguments could not sway an unspoken logic here. Of happy people, I have a dozen photos, but none strikes me as profoundly as this one because none has such a mystery as this.

I am attending the Fair this year in three capacities: as an ordinary visitor who loves the exhibits, as an exhibitor in the International Photographic Salon, and as a representative of Mount Rainier National Park at our booth in the Outdoors Building. I have certainly "got my happy on."