O.K. if you are like me… who was born in Ontario… the Ex means the “END” of summer, usually running the last two weeks of the summer before school starts, over labour day weekend!  I must admit I’ve only been to the ‘Toronto Ex’ two different years, when I lived there.. hmmm what was I talking about? Oh, Yes! another difference between Manitoba and Ontario… Winnipeg has their “Ex” as the ‘start’ to the summer… This past Thursday night I decided to go check it out with a friend.  They hadn’t been in years, a band that they enjoy were playing at 8pm… so off we went! The following are some of the photos that I took, as I experienced my first Winnipeg “Ex”…

We arrived close at dinner time.. so that was the FIRST big decision… what to eat??  After a look around… we both decided on ‘Smokey’s Tender Beef’…

(I didn’t get a photo of the bun filled with beef..) If you know me… you know that roast beef dinner isn’t really my thing (I’ll eat it to be polite, well usually, but I don’t care for it…) But apparently roast beef sandwiches from “smokey’s” ARE my thing! It was pretty yummy for ‘fair grounds’ grub!

…this was something I split.. hot-potato ‘fries’ but they were like chips.. but they were all one BIG long peel and then deep fried goodness!!! (soooo good…and probably a good thing to just have once a year!) Let’s not forget dessert!! (after some walking around…. we ended up in front of a fudge booth… with SO many choices..but actually BOTH decided on the same kinds and split a 1/2…) Yummy Mint Fudge!!!

Then came the walking around… and at all travelling fairs… we all know the endless game booths with games that are rigged so that winning is impossible.. and in the moment.. (YES, I’m SURE you have been there too!) You decide that you HAVE to have one of those cheesy-carnival stuffies… and make it YOUR ambition to have it happen!

(the well trained carnie will spot this and keep you buying balls, and ‘trading the tiny, ugly stuffy’ to eventually after a bazillion dollars you get the most ‘beautiful’ stuffy that had you STOPPED at this silly darn booth in the first place! (ok… so maybe that little ramble was from experience, or just keen observation while visiting the Winnipeg Ex…just sayin’)

dYes, I’m the proud owned of a ‘Monkey-in-a-banana’ I think now my life is complete!

So, I learnt two things walking away from the booth…

1. I don’t have good aim, and next time at the Carnie-games… I need to NOT do games that require me to pitch baseballs into small holes…

2. Ask the person that you are with… if THEY want to throw your balls, rather than watch you and take photos–because they might be a really good aim! (although then I wouldn’t have had the satisfaction of ‘winning’ my Monkey-in-a-banana for the bargain price that I had to ‘pay’ to have the privilege to try to win it!)

“monkey-in-a-banana” then went on to enjoy various sites at the Ex… and even sat in a fighter jet… I did too of course!! 🙂 

Then there was some more ‘walkin’ around… and seeing what we could see… the Winnipeg Ex is a really good place to check out the latest fashions.. and see what the people are wearing!  (although I’m not going to try any of the fashion that I saw exhibited that night~!)

How much fun would have this been? –the kind that makes you want to scream and hope you don’t have to pee… sadly this was not ME inside this sling-shot-ball-to-the-sun… but was fun watching people do it all the same! Part of the original reason that I ended up at the Ex.. was because Mark wanted to see “My Darkest Days”… and it was a fun concert, and it was really funny seeing them try to keep their banter with the crowd “PG” and appropriate, and in the end… there were a few ‘f-bombs’ that were dropped~!  But I did get some fun shots of the band…

 There was quite a crowd.. that enjoyed the performance… live music is always a good thing!

People watching as always been a fun activity and at a concert… it’s a perfect opportunity to scan the crowds and see what you might see!

And I took a few snaps…

Exhibit A: Very-free-spirited dude, not ashamed to move the way the music lead him...who may or may not have had a few 'adult' beverages~

Exhibit B:There's always a few in the crowd that want to be hoisted onto someone's shoulders and view the concert from way up there! Much to the peoples dismay behind them!

After the concert we headed into another building… and saw some sights… there was a massive colon we walked through…no jokes here—it’s the truth… and well to prove that we did… Mark stood by the sign and then entrance, of the ‘pink’ colon pointing to some haemorrhoids… (the whole building was to promote ‘healthy lifestyles’ and to educated people about dangers and warning signs for colon cancer, so a good thing–but humorous at the same time!)

When we emerged from the building it was getting dark, so we walked around the mid-way… once more.. and I took a few photos!  (I just hand held, and played with shutter speeds…and made due without a tripod! I’m pretty happy with the results!)

After taking a few shots of the GIANT Ferris wheel…. I wanted to go on it… so I got some tickets and then waited in line… Mark either was just as ‘thrilled/excited’ as I was to go on the Ferris wheel and I know he really LOVES his photo being taken! 😉
And the view from the top….

I feel for the two ‘teenagers’ that were in the same ‘bucket’ as us… they probably said what weird “OLD” people… taking photos… and self-portraits of themselves! (but hey… you gotta do it, it’s a way to preserve the memories… I really am NOT shy to take a photo…at all, and have a bunch that now when I look through them I am what was I thinking!!)

Thanks, Winnipeg Ex.. it was a great night, good times were had by all!

P.S. I’m still trying to sort out if I compressed my photos into small enough files–to help with the loading process?..let me know how it loads.. Because I do like to do ‘picture’ heavy posts!

ARGH! WORDPRESS–need to work on my how-to-format-posts!!

Thanks, S