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  • Sarah Bristol, left, of Kingsley, laughs while standing next to her husband, Dan Bristol III, on Friday at the Northwestern Michigan Fair. Keith King/Record-Eagle

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August 14, 2010

Some 'fair flings' end up being more serious

'It's not just romance, but also the friendships'

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

Traverse City — Amid the mud and manure, the sawdust and hay, romance blooms each year at the Northwestern Michigan Fair, or so the story goes.

They are called "fair flings," when 4-H participants and their families make a love connection during Traverse City's multi-county annual fair. Take the Bristol family, for example.

"I think we're a special kind of people, us fair people," said Gale Bristol, who met her husband Dan Bristol Jr. when they served together on the fair's board. "We're just one of many."

The Traverse City residents married 12 years ago. Since then, both their sons from previous marriages met their wives at the fair.

"I think it's good, and now they've got their kids — our grandkids — involved, so maybe something will happen for them too," Dan Bristol Jr. said.

His son, Dan Bristol III, said he spotted his eventual wife years ago as she worked with her animal in the steer barn.

"I first saw him when he was showing pigs," said Sarah Bristol, his wife.

They now have three boys, Rylee, 5, Jackson, 3, and Cole, 18 months, with a fourth baby on the way, she said.

It seems normal for romantic relationships to develop during fair week, Sarah Bristol said.

"Everyone has a common interest here. And they're locked up inside a gate together for a week," she laughed.

Gale Bristol said she believes fairground romances are founded in something much stronger.

"It's not just romance, but also the friendships. That's where it starts, with life-long friendships," she said.

That's the case for Stephanie Wolf, of Kingsley, who met her husband, Josh, through fairground connections.

"Eventually, he called me one day after the fair," she said. "It's everywhere out there. It's just something about being out there."

Wolf said common interests and similar lifestyles among fair participants means the "fair-fling tradition" likely will continue well into the future.

Justin Wilkins, of Traverse City, was compelled to not only court his fiancee, Rachel Wicksall, at the fair, but he also popped the question there two years ago.

"It was the day before the auction. It was spontaneous. I had the ring with me the whole week," Wilkins said.

They walked through the fairgrounds together and went past a sign about the fair's 100th anniversary. That prompted a bout of nostalgia about their first meeting there at age 8, and he decided the moment was right.

"She kind of looked at me funny and said, 'Really?' Then she smiled and said, 'Yes,'" Wilkins said.

They plan to marry in a couple years after at least one graduates from college — she studies teaching at Central Michigan University and he is learning heavy-equipment mechanics at Ferris State University — and then they hope to raise their future children to also become 4-H'ers, he said.

The fair will wrap up tonight at the fairgrounds on Blair Townhall Road, south of Chum's Corners.

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