Fun Times at the County Fair

The second and soon to be annual AEF County Fair, a "Fun-Raiser" for the AIDS Emergency Fund, was a whimsical success! A mere $40 ticket granted admission and 20 white tickets good for games and food; red tickets were available for alcoholic beverages. Admission also includes a free ticket/admission to Sundance Saloon afterward.

Held in the little-known San Francisco County Fair Building (adjacent to the entrance to the Arboretum) in Golden Gate Park, volunteers staffed a wide range of traditional carnival games and fair food booths while the "main stage" featured speakers, drag performers, singers, and dancers.

And of course, the Happy Penis.

Shout out to David Taylor.

Performances and speakers included Donna Sachet, Connie Champagne, Sister Roma and Pollo Del Mar (Vote for Pollo for Ru Paul's Drag Race). Pollo's performances included a rendition of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" in which she trans(!)forms from a Brittney-style catholic school girl to a raging bull dyke.

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And one danger of launching onto and off of folding tables in ill-fitting Birkenstocks: tumbling ass over tea kettle.


Professional on the stage as well as her street corner, Pollo quickly recovered and popped back onto the platform.


Some of the traditional carnival games had a decidedly San Franciscan take on them, and one or two put the carnal in carnival. Games included Plinko, Knock Over the Milk Bottles, Shooting Gallery, Ring the Bell with the Hammer, and fortunes tellers. RMJ staffed the Shooting Gallery for a while, and added a great deal to the game by requiring/allowing contestants to dig for their own arrows/darts and prize tokens in his apron pockets.

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It was certainly that kind of crowd: hot and frisky.



Lance and Steve
(Hot certainly, but I make no assertions as to frisky.)
My favorite game, at which I became quite skilled, was Fling the Frog.



BJ Patnode flings the frog.
The bar was a hit too, as well as the traditional pie contest, and ultimately pie consumption.



Ron Jenkins and Jorge Hernandez enjoy
each other and three-berry pie
Fun community retakes on traditional games included the Dildo Ring Toss (seen across from the Shooting Gallery), Suzan Revah's Kissing Booth (boys and girls interchangeable)...


and the George Bush Shoe Toss (four shoes per ticket, face hit wins first prize)

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Suzan had asked me to volunteer for the kissing booth, but the combination of scheduling conflicts with the required orientation and the thought of swapping spit with many strangers as H1N1 was going crazy led to by declining the invitation. I did note that the team did come up with some original rules, and the booth was very popular. I'll be volunteering next year.


I turned around from Fling the Frog just as Pollo finished inflicting "much more" on Leo and Tod. Pollo turned to me and asked "Did you see me molesting the Kissing Both boys?"

"No," I said, and indicated a circle around my mouth, "but I can tell."

That drag makeup is hard to remove, and the kids spent a good ten minutes trying.

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I ran into the boys four hours later in the Castro and the evidence yet remained.

All in all, it was fun for the whole family, no matter how you define the term.

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This was the AEF County Fair's second year, and it looks like it will be a fun and profitable tradition to support their important work.

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