I have a Controversial and Unpopular Opinion and here’s why:

“This is the slowest Family Day I’ve seen at the Fair in 20 years working. Other folks said it’s the slowest in 25.”

An actual concessions employee said this to me this evening as she was on her dinner break, sitting at the end of a picnic table just off the Midway as my family & friends occupied the rest of the table. She was halfheartedly enjoying her wood-fired pizza; we were polishing off the remains of fried pickles, a bloomin’ onion, and some fried mac & cheese bites.

Because State Fair! And I hate myself!

The first Monday of The Ohio State Fair is Family Day, and we have made a new tradition in the last few years of going with some close friends of ours who have a daughter just a few months older than my own. It is usually hot & muggy, teeming with people from around the state looking to have some good, old fashioned fun – gorging on fried everything, feeding animals at the petting zoo, perusing the cows (both butter and otherwise), and getting cheap thrills on the various rides.

As you probably heard, tragedy struck on a ride during that very first night of the Fair.

Reactionary Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit responded exactly as you may expect – horribly, calling for boycotts of the Fair because they didn’t shut everything down for the rest of the week. Social Media wanted to cancel Christmas because a young man died. These trolls vowed to actively prevent people from going to the fair.

I didn’t see anyone putting up barricades or stopstix on the streets or up on I-71. I didn’t see any picket lines or signs or marches.

However, I definitely noticed a significant decrease in attendance compared to the mob scene that was Family Day 2016.

The bit about “canceling Christmas” is not hyperbole. For the *thousands* of people that rely on The Ohio State Fair (and so many others on the fair circuit), the window for generating income to support their families is very small. They need our hard-earned dollars to become their hard-earned dollars because that is how capitalism works even though capitalism is the worst and I’m about to defend it sort of and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Look: I feel for the business owners & employees at the State Fair who are really struggling this year.

I feel for the families of those who were directly effected by the accident on the ride during the first evening.

You’re allowed to have empathy for both. I’m allowed to have empathy for both.

A ride breaks, a teenager entering the prime of life dies horrifically, accidentally. That is profoundly sad. I’m not a monster – I have a child myself, and I’d be devastated if something like this would ever happen to her.

BUT: there is no safer time to ride these rides than RIGHT NOW. Every qualified & experienced eyeball in the amusements business is on those things constantly this week to make sure everything about those rides is up to scratch and beyond. I let my 5 year-old ride many of them tonight, and my good friends also let their 5 year-old ride. We did so without fear because we understand that the eyes of the world are on Ohio right now, and no one in charge of these things wants a repeat performance of that first night.

I kinda want to thank all the reactionary social media army for scaring people enough to stay away – the weather was perfect this evening, and the crowds were minimal. The Twitter trolls made my State Fair experience tolerable to the point of actual enjoyment.

I don’t want to diminish the damage caused by the accident, truly. Keep in mind, however, that each of those people on the ride had a better chance of dying in their car on the way to the fair than dying on that ride – what happened was both tragic and actually one-in-a-million.

See: I told you this was a controversial and unpopular opinion.

So: if you’re in Ohio, go to The State Fair sometime over the next 8 days. Ride the Ferris wheel and the sky coaster and whatever other ride you want. Pet some animals. Watch a pig race or some chicken judging. Eat a swiss cheese & butter sandwich on rye and some ice cream and a turkey leg and some fried whatever. Drink a lemon shake-up and go to the various pavilions to see seminars and products and my friend Gena at the “railroad crossings are dangerous so don’t park your car on them!” booth.

You’ll probably have fun and you definitely won’t die on a ride. Because mammaw told me that you’re not gonna drown if you’re born to hang.