On Monday this week I reviewed best-selling British crime writer Martina Cole’s Faces. And I promised you a chance to win a brand spanking new copy of the just-released American edition of the novel. Now's your chance to read it before it hits the big screen - which it may well do just as several of her others have.
Grand Central Publishing, of the Hachette Book Group, is offering a copy of Faces to five lucky Am
erican or Canadian visitors to the Women of Mystery blog.
To win, add a comment to this post (click "Comments" below). Tell us about the last time you went after a goldfish or teddy bear at a county fair. Whether the game was a duck shoot or a tractor pull, tell us if you tried for a prize...if your big brother did...or if you stood by and drooled but never went for the big win. Never been to a county fair? There’s a story right there!
Leave me a word or two at this post and you’re in the game. Comments posted before noon on Tuesday, July 28 will be tossed in my salad bowl, and I’ve promised my neighbor’s kid he can do the draw.
If you're one of the lucky winners you'll hear from me the next day. Now it’s...one two three GO!
- Lois
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36 comments:
I have never been to a country or state fair but I have stood on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland and tried to knock those ducks down. The one time I won a prize was when a boyfriend worked the merry-g0-round and let me grab the brass rings.
Some friends and I went to a county fair in Arkansas, and they all wanted to show off how they could shoot hoops at the basketball free throw game. So, they laid down their money and took their best shots.
Not so good. See, the gaily decorated streamers at the top of the booth sagged artfully into the line of a normal basketball free throw. You couldn't get any arch on the ball. At all. The shooters had to try to straight-arm it. Clang. Off the front of the rim. All tall boys. As you tend to be when you're good at basketball.
So, they looked at me, being just barely 5-foot-6 (OK, 5-5-and-a-half. In shoes with any kind of heel at all.) Never having been picked for a basketball team in my life, I had had a lot of time to practice free throws in my driveway. Alone. And since my hoop wasn't regulation height, and the stripe I was shooting from was scrubbed in the dirt with the toe of my Keds, every day in a different spot, I was perfect for the job.
I stepped up. One of the guys paid. I started shooting. Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish. You could hear it all over the midway. I arched the ball, under the streamers and into the basket time after time.
Finally, the carnie says, "Take your pick." I picked a huge teddy bear. "We're closed," said the carnie.
And that's how I closed down a county fair booth.
L
I have been to the Maryland State Fair many times but as a 4Her and family who entered all kinds of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, jellies, clothes, etc. we didn't visit the arcade part at all. Funny thing was we had so much fun doing all the other things at the fair that it wasn't until later in life I realized that for many people that was the only reason they went to the fair.
I have though done a few of those type games at the Liberty Road Carnival.
As a young teenager, I had braces as did many of my friends. My mother, however, was a fanatic about banning candy, cake, cookies and Co-Cola from my diet as a post-braces-cavity prevention tool. I suffered.
When the traveling fair came to Glynn County, I rejoiced. My friends and I stuffed ourselves with Co-Colas, fluffy spun sugar cotton candy, everything we could find. And then we hit the Lucky Duck stand. Little yellow plastic ducks swam past us in a never-ending stream. You paid your nickel, picked a duck and won the prize identified on the duck's tummy. There were a few big plush prizes, giant stuffed ducks, but ninety percent of the prizes were candy. Chocolate candy, gum drops, jelly beans, licorice whips, Red Vines, Sugar Daddies. I was in sugar heaven.We left that stand with our pockets stuffed. I chewed on a giant Sugar Daddy, pulling that caramel end to a stiff peak.
Then we rode the Hurricane- the oversized roller-coaster with flashing colored lights, drop zones and a black-out sequence. I secured my Sugar Daddy in a firm jaw clench and off we went, whirling, twisting, rolling upside down and right-side back up. We staggered off giggling, trying to catch our balance.
We flung ourselves on a bench to compare experiences. I opened my mouth to talk--and couldn't. My jaw was welded shut by six ounces of thick ooey-gooey caramel. When I finally pried my jaws apart, the Sugar Daddy had a new set of braces and eight amalgam fillings firmly affixed.
And I had to face my mother.
Paige, that is hilarious!!
I lead such a boring life. But if anything exciting was ever going to happen to me at any kind of fail, I have a feeling if I didn't wind up like Paige with the giant Sugar Daddy, I would definitely have some kind of mishap that involved food.
Terrie
I'm thinking I should've based the prize on the county fair stories! These are fantastic!
Patty, I've stood on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD many times myself, and I'll bet we've been in the same arcade.
Plastic Santa, this is a great story. Your moment of glory, and it has a kind of Aesop ring to it.
Janimar, if I'd had any jellies or baked goods to enter, I'd have stayed away from the arcade games myself. Only time I ever won anything was when a bored attendant handed me a teddy bear out of pity.
Paige, this is one of the funniest stories I ever heard. I never had braces, but I sure remember eating Sugar Daddies, and as soon as you mentioned it I knew where you were going. Oh my. You didn't mention the drool down your chin, but it had to be there!
I love these stories, Lois. What a cool idea for a giveaway! From Patti's carnival nepotism to Plastic Santa, the ultimate sneaky ringer, I want to know more about janimar's 4H competitions and whether or not local dentists donated all the candy at Paige's ducky pond. Great stuff!
I'd feel fine about entering, too, except for the repulsive height of my TBR pile and a diet I'm taking on new books until I read, gift, or donate the old ones. It's actually humiliating, and a new title would just gather undeserved dust.
Still, I'll tell you about working at (now Six Flags) Great America during high-school summers and carrying home-- from a special employee event-- one of the ring toss's ultimate and gigantic lavender gorillas. Our theme park was affiliated with Warner Brothers, so our loitering characters were Bugs Bunny and Grape Ape, among others. (One of the Daffys was a girl from my class who taught me to drive stick shift.)
Anyway, my prestigious award was too big to get one set of human arms around, posed like a genial seated Buddha, and still over 5 feet tall. I managed to get the prize home in (on) my VW Beetle by having it straddle the roof, while people gripped its arms and feet through my open windows. I'm pretty sure rope had been invented by then, but I was 16, so that's probably why we didn't use any and just didn't dare accelerate above 30 mph.
You guys! Wow. Can't remember ever winning anything at those carnival games, but did work for a woman whose family ran the games in Vegas. Often she would give plush animals to my daughter, just because this lovely woman loved kids.
And may I point out that this family got quite rich running those games? There's money in nickles & dimes.
We have a fair that's called he Jordan Fall Festival. Every year I would try to win the goldfish by throwing a ping-pong ball in the glass fish bowl. If you won which wasn't very often,they gave you the fish in a platic bag. So by the time you got it home & invested in food & fishbowl, the fish ended up dying within the next 2 days!
Clare, I can see you wearing your tiara and scepter, in that VW hanging on to the gorilla-on-top. He must have made a great dance partner!
Lyn, who knew! I've got a nephew in Vegas...maybe it's time for a career change.
Oh Cindee, those goldfish. It's really sad, isn't it? What was even worse was the turtles. The thing to do, of course, was purchase all the equipment, and when the original prize quickly passed on to a better world, buy another right away!
I remember having a stuffed dog that came from the fair, but how I came to have it I'm not sure. I think it was throwing darts at balloons or something. I also remember that we had a couple of goldfish that survived the usual two or three days at home. I'm so glad to not have seen those as prizes in the last few years.
I did win a goldfish but it was at a church bazaar not at the state fair. I was so excited & happy as I took my plastic bag home with me. Unfortunately the fish did not survive very long even though I did follow all the instructions about feeding & changing the water in the fish bowl.
There I was, a newlywed in the fall of 1998. I'd been married for less than a year, but I grew out my mullet anyway, just so I could fit in on the fair midway.
I was determined to win my bride a prize.
Okay that's all B.S. Well all of it except the fact is was the fall of 1998 and I'd been married less than a year.
Anyway my wife decided we should try and win a fish for our sparsely decorated house. To do so all you had to do was toss a ping pong ball in a fish bowl.
Damned if we didn't win and that fair fish lived about seven or eight years before finally going to the great toilet bowl in the sky.
Because of that I refuse to let her talk me into trying anymore.
All of these stories bring back so many memories. Unfortunately, I never won anything, however, because my mother refused to let us play those games! It wasn't until my "big, strong" boyfriend in high school took me to a carnival that I won any prizes--and actually, it was he who won me that stuffed animal by ringing the bell with a hammer.
I've never been to a county fair. I've been to an amusement park near us, Kennywood, however I never did try to win anything. I just went for the rides.
Carol M
mittens0831 AT aol.com
We went to an amusement park many, many years ago when, as teenagers, we were in Vienna (the one in Austria)... there was a silly little game where you had to pound a nail into a board that already had a gazillion nails in it.
We didn't speak the language, but the young fellow running the booth smiled encouragingly at me and handed me the hammer... which he had charmingly decorated with something mined from his nose!
Made me so mad, I drove that nail practically all the way through the board and into the ground!
Got my prize, too. (Then checked it really, really carefully to make sure he hadn't decorated it, too!)
(Sorry for that mental picture. I've attended lots of fairs and won ribbons for all kinds of pickles and preserves, but those stories are kinda boring in comparison, aren't they?)
Reb & Helen, we are all glad to have seen the last of the goldfish prizes.
Travis, I'm relieved about the mullet being BS.
Leemarie, it is clear that big strong boyfriends come in quite handy.
Carol, the rides are by far the best part. You haven't missed much.
BagLady, congratulations on the win (I think!) but after your story I will never attend a fair again!
At end of every summer I attended the historic fair in Gt. Barrington, Mass. (It has since passed into history--and real estate.) It had everything--rides, horse racing, cotton candy, shoot the darts, ring toss for prizes. All it lacked was what we used to call "freaks" and my family more than made up for those--full of French Canadians trying to outdo each other in headaches, upset stomachs, martyrdom of all kinds. "We're put on earth to make up for the sufferings of Jesus, who died for our sins." I changed this to "Jesus died for our sins--let's not disappoint him."
But with a few nickels. some cotton candy, and the Ferris wheel, I could forget it all for a few hours. Oh, growing up with people who terrify you is fine training to be a mystery writer. Lots of motives to kill or be kllled. Carole Spearin McCauley
Hi Carole...I love your unusual version of the 'died for our sins' exhortation! I'm glad you were able to escape family at the fair in Gt. Barrington (which I love, btw).
When our boys were about 5 and 4 years old, we took them to a local county fair. My husband took the oldest to a game where you had to roll a ball between barriers and hit something 3 times to win a huge stuffed animal. After a few tries they discovered that the end track of about 8 or 10 always seemed to aim the ball correctly, and my son won a huge stuffed cow. Hubby brought him back and swapped him for the younger, who with a little coaching also won, this time a stuffed mouse nearly as big as him.
When we returned later in the evening, that track was blocked off.
When I was a teenager, many moons ago, I went to Klondike Days in Edmonton which was when the exhibition midway opened up for ten days in the summer. I played toss the rings over the bottles and won a small fuzzy pink dog. Of course, I spent about $5.00 to play those rings.
Years ago our daughter's school had a carnival with the requisite 'gold fish toss'. Jessecae and beloved first husband spent something short of the national debt tossing rings into goldfish bowls and 'won' a pair.
Goldie and her bowlmate came home to live in my daughter's bathroom in a large bowl with filter system and daily maid service, me.
The bowlmate lived the normal goldfish years, and was properly buried in the back garden.
Goldie went on to grow to the size of a small whale. She was given a new home in my friend's pond with the other carp, almost her size.
Moment of silence. Goldie and the carp passed away in a cleaning malfunction one day. I am in no way suspicious of my friend's motives.
No need to enter me, ladies -- even though I HAVE been to a county fair. It was fun, even! I'm dropping in to say thanks for the e-mail. I've got this posted at Win a Book for you.
Boots9k, your boys (5 & 4!) sound both smart and determined. A cow and a mouse!
Barbara, the $5 simply doesn't count. (Like cookie crumbs and cake crumb calories don't count.)
Kathleen, I am impressed...a backyard burial after a long, fruitful, and decorative life! The other one carp-sized! What did you feed these two?
Susan, many many thanks for helping our efforts along. Great stories, eh? This is fun.
I have not tried to win a fish in a long time. But I certainly remeber the years of fish at the county fair. Always the same game. Throwing a ball into one of a table full of mini bowls. I always felt bad for the fish, they must be so scared. I guess I never felt bad enough. I always tried for one anyway....and then spent the rest of my time at the fair worrying about its well being and chances of living through the trup home.
I've never been to a county fair. Last weekend, though, we had Rotaryfest which is a big celebration to benefit the Rotary Club. Anyways, they had a duck pond where every duck wins a prize and we let my 3 yr. old son pick a duck. He ended up with the smallest yo-yo I've ever seen as his prize.
melacan at hotmail dot com
I used to go to church festivals and fairs when I was younger, but we never really tried for the goldfish. I won one once and I believe it died before we got home, the poor fish...I just forget how I even won the thing honestly!
-lauren
lauren51990 AT aol DOT com
I've been to a county fair, but didn't do any of the contest stuff... But tonight we were at Relay for Life and my husband entered a jumping contest. Of course, he jumped further than anyone else, so he had my daughter choose a teddy bear for a prize. Tell me why this 2yo picked the little bear over the big one? I'm still not sure...
wheresmyrain, the sad stories about goldfish are breaking my heart!
Pam, small yoyos are better than no yoyos!
Shooting Stars Mag, I surmise that the trauma erased your memories of the prior experience.
MoziEsme, maybe he wanted a bear he could carry around? (And if the big one comes to life at night, they're harder to wrestle.)
What a coincidence! I was at the DuPage county fair yesterday and tried to win a big plush care bear at the basketball game. I failed miserably, but it sure was fun to try!
Thank you for the giveaway :)
hurdler4eva(at)gmail(dot)com
I took my kids to the fair once and tried at a game of chance where the marble rolled down a board full of nails and ended on a number. Number 8 was my # and it was the winner. Prize a 3 foot high stuffed kangaroo. Well you know who ended up carrying that thing around all night!
I have been to a state fair and carnivals.
I don't remember doing any of the shooting contest but I would also enter the guess your weight contest as I would usually win as I look like I do not weigh much acutally do.
Please enter me in the contest
beachlover20855[AT]yahoo[DOT]com
I have been to a carnival ,but not a state fair. When I was a teenager my boyfriend tryed to get me a stuffed animal by throwing balls at empty bottles. He didn't win anything and I think that embarrased him with me standing there. lol jacquecurl1@gmail.com
My wife had just started work for a software company and we were strapped for cash. The company had scheduled an employee picnic on her birthday, and being new, she felt obliged to attend. We drove to the event on fumes, and I wasn't sure we'd have enough gas to get home.
As part of the festivities, a set of carnival games were set up. Not feeling particularly festive, I didn't take part, and chose to mingle with a few of my wife's new coworkers instead. One of them said, "You really ought to take part in Frisbee toss."
In the grassy field next to the picnic tables, an array of soda cans were set at varying distances from a chalk line. People stood single file to await their turn to throw.
"No thanks," I said. I felt no compunction to display how lame I was with Frisbee in hand.
"There's money inside those cans and you get to keep what you knock over."
I was in line in a shot. By the time my first turn came, only four cans remained. The closest was about thirty yards out. I took aim and missed.
To the back of the line I went. Two more cans fell in the next two throws while I watched helplessly. There were wildly errant attempts, and near misses. Each had me holding my breath silently muttering "miss, miss, miss". Two cans remained by the time I made it to the front again. I aimed for the furthest one. The Frisbee sailed low and true. I hoped it wouldn't tilt and turn off course as Frisbees often do, or decelerate and fall short. It never waivered, clipped the top of the can, and sent it tumbling like a bowling pin. There were some cheers, and a few huffs of disappointment from those behind me in line. A woman overseeing the game brought the can to me. I tipped out a rolled up bill and unfurled it. Ben Franklin smiled back at me. We filled the tank of our car, and I took my wife out to a celebratory birthday dinner. I, for one, loved her new employer.
Amber...better luck next time! (And good luck with tomorrow's drawing for Faces.
Kaye...a 3-ft high kangaroo! That's the best stuffed prize I ever heard of!
Beverly, how nice to be a sure-fire winner at the weigh-in.
Minishoes1, this is the kind of thing that can destroy a relationship! I hope you were kind....
Craven, what a blast...desperate gaming measures for the sake of gas money! Congratulations!
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