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Saturday, July 22, 2017

We Walk past a Lot of Bars

California State Exposition, Sacramento, California
Bars of the California State Fair, Sacramento, California
Really, someone must have been a marketing genius. Someone must have been pondering, how can we sell more cold beer, how can we make it an irresistible item?


Then maybe someone said, “Well, if we could get people out in the hot sun of Sacramento on a summer day, if we could somehow get them to spend hours out in the century-plus heat, we’ll be onto something big.”

Maybe some of you doubt we should be count the California State Fair as our bar for the week, but we saw places labelled “Pub” and “Saloon” -- and they surely couldn’t do that legally if they weren’t actual bars, right?


hard lemonade stand next to the Gospel Celebration at the California State Fair
Admittedly, many of the places selling cocktails were just booths, and most had no seating (let alone barstools), so it would be difficult to call these places actual bars. But places like the Wine Garden have plenty of seating. And some of the drinking locations have musical acts playing.


We didn’t chat with anyone at any of the bars because -- well, I’ve been cautious about talking to people at the fair ever since my friend Janet back in high school let a couple of strangers know where she lived and when she’d be at the fair again, and they burgled her home while her parents were out of town. (I’m really just telling this story so I can use the word “burgled,” which you don’t get to use everyday.)

So, yeah, we’re going to call the Fair a bar. Sometimes you need to go some place really hot to appreciate a cold one.












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