Tuesday, July 31, 2007 My Turn • Indian tacos and the Lassen County Fair

Publisher’s note: This My Turn by Pat Shillito originally appeared in the Tuesday, July 31, 2007 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Last week I got to experience another first in my life here in Lassen County: Of course, I’m talking about the Lassen County Fair.

The sights, the sounds, the smells; all ripe with life in Lassen County. I have to says that I’ve been to a few county and state fairs in my day, and I’m impressed.

It seemed everywhere I looked, I saw people bumping into people they know, meeting with family and friends, kids running around with the big grins.

The most important thing I saw going on was that most of the people there were just having fun, letting the problems from their day-to-day lives melt away, either for the sake of their kids or even for themselves.

I’ve detected the reason behind all this unchecked bliss with my nose. The source of the extreme happiness moving through the crowd like a diesel truck through a puddle of mud.

I’m talking of course about the Indian tacos.

I’ve been told about these delectable treats since the first day I started working here. The way you’d hear the people talking about them around the Times, you’d think the tacos were filled with filet mignon and lobster tail.

So here I am, eight months later walking around the fairgrounds, stumbling upon an ever-expanding line at a concession stand.

Everyone walking away with food from that line had a grin and a look of lust on their faces reserved for a pirate staring at a chest full of buried treasure.

Realizing what they were selling, I moved to the back of the line and waited.

After waiting for what seemed like a brief period of time, I was suddenly presented with the moment of truth. I folded up the massive thing into a shape resembling a taco, took a bite, and…

It was good. It wasn’t the single greatest experience in my life, but wow, it was good. It was a little slice of the sweet life. A small sampling of joy. I proceeded to devour the entire taco. I almost ate the fork I eventually had to use to finish the remainder.

And so my investigation into the reason why everyone at the Lassen County Fair was so happy was complete. I ordered another one to celebrate, then left the fair with a feeling of sorrow, sad that I will have to wait till next year to experience what was the high point of my culinary experience in my new home.

And so, I look at my first Lassen County Fair as an experience even better than the fair in my own hometown. I look forward to next year, with the hopes of experiencing the same sights, sounds, smells … and Indian tacos.