The Midway at the State Fair of Texas is a profound assault on the senses.
The waxy smell of sunscreen and sweat permeates the deep-fried haze floating from the concessions stands. Flashing lights and Crayola box rows of stuffed animals compete for your attention. You’re keeping one eye on your friends, buoys bobbing up and down in a sea of humanity, as your elbows rub against a third of the population of North Texas, packed into various lines and walkways, posed in Instagram-friendly tableaus of State Fair fun.
Your hands are still sticky from that funnel cake you shouldn’t have eaten, and the corn dog in your gut is doing cartwheels. The screams of the thrilled, clinging to remorseless machines buzzsawing overhead, occasionally pierce through the dull roar of carnival barkers’ pointed banter and fairgoers’ listless conversations.
If you happen to be on one of those ungainly rides, all this is happening as your body is rattled around like it’s inside a cage strapped to the outside of a rocket.
It can be overwhelming, and doesn’t leave a lot of time to appreciate the art on the rides of the Midway. It’s only later that you’re able to take a breather, left to ask questions about the images covering the Kongo, the Flipper, the Love Bug, and the rest.
Such as: Who pioneered this aesthetic, seemingly inspired by Mountain Dew advertising, those airbrushed T shirts you see in Myrtle Beach tourist traps, the covers of paperback fantasy novels, and Maxim magazine? Why is an entire ride thematically devoted to the 1980s Tom Selleck television vehicle Magnum, P.I.? Is this supposed to be Nicolas Cage?
And that’s not even accounting for the sideshow art, which should be reckoned with in its own peculiar way:
It’s an overlooked attraction at the State Fair, but the art of the Midway demands your attention. We documented some of our favorite examples in a photo gallery.
