For one family attending the 79th annual Arkansas State Fair on Saturday, the rides, games and lights are more than just a trip -- they are a family tradition.
Diana Walton has been taking her daughters, Dionne and Krystle Walton, to the Arkansas State Fair for more than 30 years. When the Waltons walked through the front entrance in Saturday's morning chill, they had with them three generations of fair-goers and a lot of memories.
"It's just fun," Dionne said. "It's an opportunity to have fun with your family and to be a kid again."
The most recent additions to the fair troop are Krystle's son, Seth, and her friend Antoine Summer's son Gabe. Seth, who turns 7 today, celebrated his birthday a day early with his best friend, his family and a whole lot of adrenaline.
"Oh, they're so excited," Diana said of her grandson and his friend. "Seth, he just isn't afraid of anything."
Seth and Gabe ran excitedly from ride to ride to corn dog stand and to ride again as their parents trailed behind. Dionne and Krystle didn't stay out of the excitement for long, though, and soon started daring each other to get on a tall, vertical-drop ride.
Dionne said she loves everything about the fair -- the lights, the greasy food smell, the loud, thrumming music. This year, though, the rides look a little more intimidating than those last October.
"I don't think I can this year," Dionne said, laughing as she watched another group of people drop more than 40 feet toward the asphalt.
"Y'all don't want Mama to shame y'all now, do you?" Diana taunted. "The last ride I got on, I was 40 years old. It was called the Batman."
Diana began taking her two daughters to the fair when they were 8 years old, and she said she remembers going to the State Fair back when she was 13.
Her parents, Clarence and Hattie Culb, used to take her and her sister, Cristina Culb, every year, too. Now Diana and Cristina sit and watch the rides from the sidelines, cheering when one of the kids smiles or when the Crazy Mouse carts turn sharply on their pink, spindly tracks.
It's hard to go to the fair without thinking about her parents and taking her own children when she was a young mother, Diana said, but it's all happy memories.
"I remember when it was the wooden barrel races," Diana said. "You know that was a long time ago."
Each year the family makes the drive to Little Rock from Brinkley, an hour east of the Ferris wheel and giant slides.
About four rides in Saturday, the overcast sky broke loose and it began raining, but it didn't slow the family down. Seth and Gabe kept pulling on and on toward the next big adrenaline rush as their parents and grandparents tried to keep up.
"It's just our tradition," Dionne said. "We always come back."
Metro on 10/14/2018