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 The big Labor Day weekend is over. The big thing around here was something called the SantaCaliGon Festival. As you may or may not know, Independence, Missouri, is "famous" for being the head of the three trails so important to western expansion back in the day--the Santa Fe, the California, and the Oregon trails. Back then, Independence was the hub of a lot of commerce and general activity and, actually, was quite important. One of the richest men in the country at that time was a freed slave by the name of Hiram Young. He owned a company that constructed and repaired wagons for pioneers who made it to Independence and looked to kick off from here on their journey to out west somewhere. 

The festival started in 1973 and has been held at the town square every Labor Day weekend since then with the exception of last year, when Covid-19 effectively shut it down in the planning stages. It had gotten big. Last year the estimated attendance over the four days was 300,000. The population of Independence is only 120,000 or so now. 

Since its beginning, the whole thing had devolved into a bunch of "craft tents" and booths which lined the streets of the square, along with booths and tents selling tasty pioneer treats like funnel cakes and deep fried turkey legs, cotton candy, kettle-corn, and so on. The streets were filled with a slow, thick stream of Independence residents looking, it seemed, to defy the deleterious effects of these offerings, while the more adventurous opted to wander down to the south end of the fair where a carnival run by itinerant, stoned ex-convicts was set up. Another slow, thick stream of residents, these much younger, moved among the rides, side-stepping electrical cables and puddles of vomit and God knows what-all, to defy the odds of a screaming, horrifying end on the apex of some creaking ride whose mechanical integrity peaked during the Nixon administration. 

At this point you may be wondering about the transmission of Covid-19, this year. And well you might. Jackson County (of which Independence is the seat) and Kansas City proper has a mask mandate in effect. The city of Independence does not. You do the math. Plus the shootings. In two successive incidents on two successive nights, six people were shot, down by the carnival rides after dark.  No fatalities. 

Some people are saying, get rid of the carnival rides next year. This is where kids hang around when it gets late and things get dicey. Others are saying, just get rid of the whole thing. The Chamber of Commerce, which in effect is the voice of all the local businesses, is saying, step up the security. To me, this is all just one more thing, on top of lackadaisical  and cavalier Covid-19 measures, revealing the priority of business and the economy over public well-being. 

See?  This is kind of why I don't like holidays. I know. Grumpy.