NPR Road Trips Fairs and Festivals

NPR Road Trips

by Noah Adams (Performance), National Public Radio

Step right up as the gates swing open at fairgrounds across the USA. This delightful collection explores the unique joys of the public gatherings that take place in cities and small towns, when people of all stripes and sizes meet to gawk at cows, ponder seed art, get hypnotized, compete in husband-calling contests, and eat virtually anything on a stick. Farming, food, politics, parades, shilling, glad-handing, people-watching, and silliness are celebrated here. If you’ve been to a fair or festival, you’ll love this collection. If you haven’t, here’s what you’ve been missing.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, Travel, Humor

60 pages, Audio CD

First published June 5, 2012

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories of the familiar to me fair elements such as butter sculpting, foods on a stick, and farm and home exhibits of animals and canned goods and the like. It was easy to recall taking in all the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the fair. However, I most enjoyed the stories of the unfamiliar to me unusual attractions such as pig racing and the husband-calling contest. Those stories made me want to visit a fair in a part of the country outside the Midwest to see what unique offerings other areas have to show off.

This is probably more interesting to a fair-goer than a non-fair-goer; it's a short listen at 1 hour. Interesting enough for a short duration, but I admit I would have abandoned a longer listen.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lighthearted listen for a road trip. Nothing exceptional, but it kept me awake and entertained!

[Jay French · Rating 1 out of 5]

Expectations. I expected that an NPR collection would really contain compelling audio, great radio bits that got behind the scenes and left you knowing more and enjoying the experience. Not so much this set. The shortness of the bits, mostly a couple of minutes, didn't allow the drama to come out like some of the better (often longer) stories in other collections. There was one story about a sideshow act that pounded metal spikes into his nose that was obviously visually interesting but didn't make the leap to being a good audio story -- why include something that really doesn't work? There were a few times where the background audio was interesting, but the stories didn't hold up. In all the topics were good, but the execution was not. At least it was only an hour. I'd suggest trying another NPR collection before this one.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun trip across the U.S. with various personalities visiting county and state fairs. From the wonders of fried food on a stick, to sideshow freaks, to funnel cakes vendors, to lessons in the art of carnival barking, you'll find yourself checking frequently to be sure your wallet hasn't been stolen.


Mmmmm . . . sugar and grease - a perfect combination!

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively innocuous short volume on fairs and festivals. The section I enjoyed most interviewed midway barkers and how they entice 'the rubes.' Great narration which I suppose I should have been entitled to expect coming as it does out of NPR. (tax dollars at work?)

[Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun radio segment. Learned about a lot of festivals and fairs I didn't know existed. Really made me rethink my career goals too lol maybe I should be selling cotton candy.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love NPR!

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thinks it’s Walden.

[Carol Havlik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Testing audiobook on Libby I consider it more of a podcast then book

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories from NPR. I remembered the smells, tastes and sounds of my trips to fairs. It has inspired me to visiting fairs in other parts of the country.

[Kelly Whitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a big fan of fairs, but there were some nice stories here and it’s good family listening.

[Mattine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book! They talked about the MN State Fair and the Princess Kay of the Milky Way! So many fun memories growing up!

[Mary Muller Coerver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook, so the bonus was the background sounds of carnival fun whilst listening.
Fun book.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Very fun. Many memories from the past and more to come.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little stories of one of my favorite places on earth - any fair or festival, anywhere, any time.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I needed a quick listen for a short road trip. This fit the bill, but I had hoped for better from NPR.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun little talking book !!

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun.

Published by HighBridge in 2012.
Multicast
Duration: about 1 hour.

My family and I are avid fans of fairs and festivals. We like to wander around and experience the hullabaloo of all of the people, the noises of the midway, the incessant sales pitches of the guys trying to sell replacement windows or guttering and, of course, the animals.

We just attended the Indiana State fair last weekend and spent an astounding 13 hours wandering around the giant circle of the fair (it is built around a one mile dirt track) seeing everything from Star Wars Stormtroopers to a petting zoo filled with week-old calves to a giant carving made of cheese (still being carved as we watched!). I learned about $261,000 John Deere Tractors, heard an acoustic blues band, bought a wallet and saw a clown marching band performance - all before we hit the midway!

So, when I found this little audiobook of stories collected from NPR over the years about fairs and festivals I knew this was right up my alley. There are 18 little stories here that originally broadcast on the air from 1999 to 2011. Most are two to five minutes long, the longest being a little over ten minutes...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2012/...

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook offers a collection of NPR stories about the oddities and humorous tales about the myriad fairs and festivals around the United States. It's not very long and is a pleasant diversion while I'm taking a long walk around the neighborhood with our dog.

The tales are interesting and it's nice to learn more about the ins and outs of what goes on at these events. I loved the mathematics discussion about the statistical difficulties of winning a carnival game.

I'm a fan of NPR and I enjoyed listening to this collection. I will certainly look for more of them at our local library.

[Karen! · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe my standards are too high.
Maybe my expectations are too high.
Maybe it's because I am from the Midwest.
Maybe this book suffers from coming after two exceptional texts.

Whatever the circumstances, NPR, I am disappointed.

This was the third in a slew of NPR audio collections, the first two of which were Fan. Tastic! However, this book sucked. It wasn't informative. It wasn't funny. It wasn't enriching. Sad face.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, they were all NPR broadcasts, and they all featured fairs and festivals, so there's that going for it. I guess I was expecting the best of the best, those "driveway moments" that keep you sitting in your car because you're just so engrossed in the story. Not so with this; they were more "I just drove 5 miles and didn't notice until my exit that I've tuned out" moments.

[Drew Weatherton · Rating 2 out of 5]

NPR always has an interesting perspective on what makes a story, and I think they did well in this collection with the subject matter they had. It just wasn't the most interesting subject in the world. Worth a listen though (if you like NPR), as this is just over an hour ;)