Neshoba County Fair - Real Life Social Networking: Southern Style

Neshoba County Fair Harness Races - Philadelphia, Mississippi, a photo by visitmississippi on Flickr.

It's comin' up, Y'all! There's something about a bunch of southerners willin' to embrace the heat of the Dog Days of Summer just to get out and hang with friends that's just plain, well, nuts! But by the time you get a few belly bustin' meals in you and sit a spell on a cabin porch, you're ready to chill no matter what the weather.

Sweet Iced Tea has nothin' on the 600 plus families who come and stay for the week year after year, generation after generation. Good Southern homemade cookin' is an understatement. Kids grow up with crazy memories of this place, and romances brew anew with every passing year.

From seat grabbin' for the Miss Neshoba County beauty pageant, to slinging mud on the race track, and politicians slingin' more from the stump, you're gonna get your money's worth plus some, no matter what day you come.

But don't expect to see the locals emerge from their air conditioned cabins until later in the evenin, when it cools down a little. Mississippi's Giant House Party people do party... with plenty of pickin' and grinnin' - usually until the wee hours, and sleep it off most of the mornin'. Reminds me a bit of the Big Easy... especially during Mardi Gras. Not the costumes or cajun-ness (who could wear a costume in this heat?) but the extreme parties at night and the laid back easiness of the days.

I've only been once, and that was just for the day. I went for the flea market/ craft show held in the square every first Saturday of the fair. It's been probably 10 years ago now, and I still have some of the stuff I bought that day sitting right here on my desk. I have friends who go for the week every year. They don't talk about it much. It's like it's a different life, for a while, and it seems to want to stay that way... separated from the real world.

We can learn a little something from these avid annual southern partiers. When in good company, and around people you trust, it's okay to let your hair down a little.