Over the summer I went to the Neshoba County Fair, also known as "Mississippi's giant house party" in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Philedelphia isn't much of a place. It's very small and very country. Even though it isn't much of a place, that doesn't make it unknown. This small city is famous around the world for its giant family fair. Families have been coming to this fair for 125 years now. At the fair every family has a cabin, and almost everyone is related. You can't walk two feet down the red dirt without getting a hug or a 'hey' from someone.

This year at the fair I brought my boyfriend David, and it was the week of my birthday. Knowing that I would be at my favorite place in the whole world for my birthday made me more than excited. The day David and I left for the fair we couldn't sit still in our seats for the car ride. David had so many questions, and I had so many answers. He asked about the food, where we would be staying, what it looks like, and if he should be nervous. I understood why he felt a little nervous. After all, he was about to meet some of the biggest and craziest families I know. At the fair, you don't only have to have one family cabin. In our case, we have three. The Fox den, The Greenleaves, and The Deweese cabin. These cabins are all my mom's boyfriend, Dewitt's, family cabins, but they have accepted my mom and I just like their own. And by the the end of the trip they had also accepted David. I know this family might be crazy, but they are also some of the most loving people I know.

When we arrived to the fair, we were so excited. For David, this was a whole new foreign land. The first thing you see when you pull in is a row of bright colorful cabins and a small sign that says "Neshoba County Fair." Once you are through the gates, it's like you have discovered a whole new world. Cabins and people are everywhere. In every cabin there are families and children. Some cabins are cooking, some are sitting telling old family stories, and most are just laughing having a good time. There are kids running everywhere, most with water guns or something to give someone a good scare.

When we got out the car, we unpacked. When the cabin door opened, so many memories came back to me. I couldn't wait to make new memories with my friends, David, and family. The cabin we stayed in was the Fox Den. The cabin is painted all pink with pink lights inside. It is two stories with a front porch and a deck on the second floor. There are lots of chairs because lots of people need somewhere to sit. Everyone is always coming in and out the cabin like crazy. Everyone at the fair is family and welcome.

Once our bags were unpacked, I grabbed David's hand and drug him out the door. The first thing you see when the door opens is the square of the fair. The square is the middle of everything. It's all the first cabins that were ever built at the fair. This is the most popular spot at the fair, so there are people everywhere, and it is where we were staying. I showed David all the cabins and the small stage located in the middle of the square. This stage is where many bands play. Every night there is a different concert to listen to. Once I showed David the square, we made our way to the midway. Before getting to the midway we stopped at the lemonade stand. We ended up spending a majority of our money here. We started walking again with our lemonade in hand and got to the midway. The midway is where all the fair rides and all the oh so delicious fair food is located. Yes, fair food is gross, but every night David and I could never pass up a chicken on a stick. Right away David and I bought some tickets. We rode as many rides as we could. I stuffed the remaining tickets in my purse and immediately started dragging David behind me again. There was so much to show him.

Next, I took him to "the track." The track is where all the horse races are held and is where the grand stand is located. Horse races go on every day and lots of bets are made. The grand stand is where beauty pageants, indian princess pageants, and concerts with very famous singers are held. This year U.S., Dustin Lynch, and Craig Morgan played. We walked the track for a while before I took him walking around the fair again. I brought him between all the rows of cabins and people. We explored the whole fair before making our way back to the cabin.

The next couple of days we explored during the day and danced at the concerts at night. We were having so much fun and told each other we never wanted to leave. At the U.S. concert they played songs like "Don't stop believing" and "Living on a prayer". We danced and sung along all night. When the concert was over, we were not done. We went and rode more rides, ran around the red dirt track with bare feet, and went in search for small bands that would play on cabin porches. Every night we came in around three or four o'clock. At the fair no one sleeps.

After days of endless fun, my birthday had come. I remember right at twelve a.m. David ran around screaming in people faces "IT'S HER BIRTHDAY, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!" Once we had gotten into bed I couldn't wait for the day I had ahead of me. I woke up to many 'happy birthdays' and lots of hugs and presents. That day, we went to the Greenleaves cabin for lunch. At the cabin my mom surprised me with a cake and everyone sung happy birthday to me. David treated me like a princess all day and bought me everything I wanted. This was one of my favorite days at the fair. After a long day of horse races, rides, walking, and eating, it soon became dark. David and I had a night of bands and meeting new friends. When the night came to an end, I was sad because it wouldn't be my birthday soon.

The next day I woke up and was kind of sad that it wasn't my birthday anymore, but that didn't last long. I hopped out of bed, woke David up, and ran downstairs to eat as quickly as possible so I could hurry and get dressed. Right when we finished eating, we both hurried and put our clothes on. When we stepped outside, there was a huge market. We both were surprised to see all the white tents in what we called our front yard. Under each tent were different things. It was very colorful and had so much stuff. There was artwork, clothes, jewelry, animals, and lots of crafts. Right away me and David both spotted the tent we knew we would both want to visit. It was a tent filled with tie dye clothing. We both love tie dye t-shirts and wear them everywhere. I didn't even bother putting my shoes on to run over to the tent and explore all the colorful t-shirts. By the end of looking, David and I had both bought two or three shirts each. I still wear mine everywhere. After doing a little shopping we started the day off like we usually did. We were getting so used to being at the fair, it became like a scheduled routine. We walked out the square, got our lemonade, walked around the fair grounds, made our way through some cabins, explored all the events going on at the track, and ate lots of food.

Later that night was one of the biggest concerts, and David and I were beyond excited. Dancing and acting silly at the concerts was our favorite thing to do. We made our way back to the cabin and got ready. Once we got to the concert Dustin Lynch was already playing. David and I ran to the front of the crowd and got as close as we possibly could. We danced and sung along until it was over. That night was so much fun. The best part about having nights like that was you knew it was never over. After the concert we decided to go check out what was going on at the cabin. When we got back to the cabin, we were surprised to see my little sister and cousins running around in a monkey suit. This wasn't an ordinary monkey suit though. They had found a large stuffed animal monkey with a sign that said "take me" hanging from it. They had taken the stuffing out, and managed to squeeze inside. The rest of the night they ran around chasing random people and became a pretty big youtube hit. The monkey ran into a concert crowd and danced with all the people. Soon phone lights and flashes were swarming around the monkey. People even started coming to our cabin to ask to borrow my sister to bring to their cabins! It was definitely a very funny night.

Another day of fun and adventure had passed before the day we had been dreading came along...
leaving. We packed, our things and never stopped talking about how we wished we could stay. When the car was packed it was so sad. We all gave it one last look before leaving the gates. Once we were on the road I remember glancing back at the colorful cabins growing smaller as we drove further away. Even though I was sad to leave, I cheered myself up right away by thinking about how fun next year would be.