Shady Carnival Hagerstown, Maryland

May 2-4 constituted the 13th Annual Harvester Church Retreat. We're gone ever since we first started attending Harvester, so I think that amounts to the past ten consecutive years, or something crazy like that. This year we ventured into Hargerstown, Maryland, to get some ice cream and escape the retreat center for a bit. Last year we had found this cute litte place called "Bones and Cones" that sold ice cream and gormet dog treats, so our plan included revistiting this little place in the name of tradition and good ice cream. But lo and behold, when we alighted in fair Hagerstown we found that the placed had closed down, much to our dismay. We hit up this little coffee shop instead and decided to enjoy our icy beverages whilst taking a stroll around downtown Hagerstown. Jesse had looked up another ice cream place on Chestnut Street on his iPhone, and so to kill time we decided to walk around for a bit. Besides, I had already put about $1.50 worth of coins in a parking meter that didn't even required money in it for the weekends, so we had plenty of time.

As we walked further away from the main street where we parked, the scenery got less and less charming and more and more sketchy. Not a problem; as long as we stayed in our group and walked peaceably, nothing bad would happen. I think amongst all the people there, I alone had any thread of legitimate concern for our safety and well-being; this became apparent when we stumbled upon the most sketchy carnival I have ever beheld in my life. Instead of recognizing the inherent dangers associated with carnivals in general, we elected to visit the small fair ground, look around, and possibly even ride some rides. Imagine seeing every red flag that would indicate a dangerous, shady, unsafe carnival waving furiously. Only I saw the metaphorical red flags! Picture this: deserted carnival, with the exception of a few unsavory looking people sitting around watching others wrestle on the grass without their shirts on; rides standing idle with no one actually riding them; no music playing; carnival workers straight up staring at you, waiting for you to ride their dangerous ride; a general haze of shadiness resting on the whole premises. Right out of a Stephen King novel. After Jesse took an awkward picture of us all at the carnival of death, I begged everyone to leave right away. I was honest-to-goodness freaked. As we trotted away, this lady said in an absolutely diabolic voice, "come here, girls" and wagged her hand at us, beckoning us to shoot some darts which most likely would lead to certain death. We high-tailed it out of there.

Overall, the trip to Hagerstown was fun and memorable. I was genuinely afraid at that sketchy carnival, though. It reminded me of the time Janet and I walked through that bad part of Cardiff to get to the Wharf, where we saw signs that read "help keep Cardiff's streets more safe: reduce knife violence." Ah, another good church retreat.