Let's go to the Ex

That's the theme song heard every year at this time advertising the Canadian National Exhibition - better known by one and all as the CNE or just simply "the Ex." Eighteen days leading up to Labour Day, the Ex opens up and everyone knows that the summer holidays will soon be over and school will then begin. It's the last chance teenagers have of obtaining a summer job - even for a couple of weeks. The last day of the Ex is always Labour Day and then the first day of school falls the next day. Always has been. My children went every year - with or without the parents - until other things became more important. When my sons (and my eldest daughter) were older, they volunteered as Scouts (Venturers) and helped push wheelchair patrons around the grounds. Free transit tickets to get to the Ex, free admission and free food is what they got in return. To young teenagers it was a lot of fun. One day was usually Kids Day and that was a very crowded day. I think we avoided attending then. It has changed over the years but the smells are same - fried onions, hot dogs, cotton candy... This year of course, they had deep fried butter (no kidding), deep fried Twinkies and several other deep fried concoctions. My youngest son Eric actually had a Krispie Kreme hamburger -  said to be about 1500 calories.


Note: photo stolen taken without permission (I'll get it later.)

The reason for this post is to bring you all down memory lane. Last night my husband, my daughter, her boyfriend and myself went to the Ex to watch Neil Sedaka. He was singing in an outdoor venue called the Bandshell. The concert was free with the purchase of your entry to the CNE grounds but because my daughter has connections, the tickets were free. It was a great night weather-wise and the music was truly wonderful. Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits was the very first LP I bought as a young girl. I listened to it constantly and new all the songs.

This was taken just now. It wasn't hard to find the record because it was the first one in my record box.

Not a good photo since my daughter's boyfriend didn't have a zoom on his camera. All of these next photos were taken by my daughter Maili.

Luckily, they had big screens.

Neil Sedaka's older now (who isn't), but his voice is still good.

He sang some oldies.

And he sang some new songs that he had composed only two weeks ago.

We didn't have seats - we stood but that was OK. You could move to the music better then. The concert started at 7:30 p.m. and it was still light out. By the time it ended, at around 9:00 p.m., it was getting dark. We left the area and headed to the Midway then.

Crowds.

Stuffed things to be won. My daughter and I wondered what happened to all the stuffed toys once they got to their new home. Really, what does one do with them? We saw two not-too-big men carrying a huge stuffed monkey with a banana. I guess their girlfriends were impressed. The thing was just as big if not bigger than they were. Comical it was.

Lots of games of chance and people just waiting to take your money.

A ring toss that my daughter decided to try for. 5 rings for each of us to try our luck. I didn't bother and nothing was won. Those are all small glass bottles with taller gold coloured bottles. I guess you get a bigger, better prize if your ring lands around its neck.

This is a ride that goes up slowly and then plunges towards the ground quickly - ending softly at the bottom.

Colourful Ferris Wheel.

Another ride.

Lots of lights.

Lots of food stands.

Lots of people. The faint purple light in the middle of the photo is the CN Tower.

Lots to see with a lot of walking.

My daughter checking out the magic mirror - making her short and squat.

We split a waffle with ice cream. It was good and refreshing.

Strange names for rides.

And lastly, the Conklin Clown. It's the Conklin Group that operate the rides at the Ex.

We didn't go into any of the buildings because it was late. We headed home after touring the midway. I always liked the horse palace and looking at the farm animals and the butter sculpture but things are now changed and I don't know if they even have horses anymore. Sometimes it's OK to change things but sometimes they should just leave things alone. I miss the old Ex.