Have you ever noticed that a particular scent can bring forth a rush of vivid memories?
The smell of cookies baking might remind you of spending time at your grandmother's house when you were a young. It is almost enough that if you close your eyes, you can put yourself in that moment.
A smell can bring on a flood of memories.
With Weyburn Fair Days around the corner, although the smells aren't wafting through the air just yet, the thought of it forces phantom fair fragrances - enough to trigger memories of my youth.
Because we encounter most new scents in our youth, smells often call up childhood memories.
I would spend my summer months at Calaway Park.
My parents would buy me a season pass, and my friends and I would head out to the amusement park located just west of Calgary to spend our days.
We would run from ride to ride to ride, and sometimes, exiting a ride, just to get in line to ride it one more time.
As the roller coaster ascended into the sky, with the mountains on the horizon, I would close my eyes just to focus on the feeling of my stomach dropping as the coaster plummeted and knocked me around like I was a coin in a dryer.
The food was the best part. Who wants to sit and have a meal when there are all those fun things to see and do at a fair?
Stopping for a funnel cake, waffle cone, popcorn or even a hot dog - something that you can hold in one hand and eat while walking was way better than sitting down and making sure your meal consisted of the basic food groups.
Fair food is in a group of its own. Everything tastes better on a stick - it's one of the main draws to the fair.
Taking my boys to the Weyburn Fair is a highlighted event of the summer for my little family.
I don't go on the rides anymore for fear that I end up tasting whatever it was a just ate a second time. I do, however, enjoy watching the look on my boys faces, brings back the feeling of being a kid again.
I know in the future, the smells of the fair will bring back fond memories of their days riding rides, eating the food and taking in the sights of the Weyburn Fair.
