Honestly, I get creeped out by the Puyallup Fair, largely for the same reason I get creeped out by the mall and Disneyland â€" it's an orgy of carefully-packaged excess.

I mean, I like excess, but try and keep it intimate. Thousands of people doing the same thing at the same time is usually just gross â€" especially when it involves sweating and eating fried food on a stick.

But nestled in amongst the mongers are a bunch of farmers showing off things they grew and made themselves â€" eggs, berries, jams, pies, cows. Most of these people spent the past year working on a schedule that most of us have never experienced â€" a schedule dependent on natural cycles â€" seasons, sunrise, sunset. The product of this seemingly simple life is amazing â€" blueberry jam that tastes like blueberries instead of sweetened, blueberry-colored matter; carrots that taste like carrots; juice that tastes like the fruit it was made from, instead of bottled robot sweat.

I like to find these folks between the fairway games and rows of onion-burger stands â€" gentle commerce lost in the cacophony of people buying balloons, head scratchers and ice cream bars. Oh, and elephant ears, which is my guilty pleasure. â€" Paul Schrag

Puyallup Fair
When: Friday, Sept. 7-Sunday, Sept. 23
Where: 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup
Admission: Adults $10; students (6-18), $8; seniors (62+), $8, 5 and younger, free.
Parking: $8 Monday-Friday, $10 Saturday-Sunday
Public Transportation: Pierce Transit, 253.581.8000
Information: 253.841.5045 or www.thefair.com