Joe Garrison

The Whip And The Boot Joe Garrison

This one's for all those folks who like going to fairs. THE WHIP AND THE BOOT: TALES FROM THE GARDEN CITY FAIR is a collection of sometimes humorous, sometimes sardonic, sometimes affectionate, but always vivid memories of Garrison's teenage experiences at a hometown Southern fair of the 1960s as compared with his 'geezer' experiences of that same fair some fifty years later. Garrison re-lives everything from the Openin' Day Parade to '60s teenage fair etiquette, to the wonders of fair food, to the thrills and spills of riding the rides. There's the 'Tractor Flight Line', and becoming 'Seasick On The Wheel', and 'Smoochin' On The Coaster', and 'Humiliation in the Galleries', and 'Freakin' Out With the Freaks', and 'The Revival Barrel', and 'Dapper Dan And The Angel', and, perhaps most vivid of all, 'The Whip And The Boot'. Today's fair is replete with tales of 'The Alibi Store', 'Twirlin' the Hammer', 'Dunkin' Pulcinella', 'Holstein Vs. Groomlady', 'Corndogs and Turkey Trots', 'The Great White Wheel', 'The Short Zoo', and a three-rounder with "Oscar The Robot". So, sit back and enjoy the fair, then and now. And, be ready to say 'Amen' when the spirit moves you.