Miss Eudora’s State Fair

Coutesy MMA

“Merriment on the Midway,” a collection of Eudora Welty’s photographs from the Mississippi State Fair, is currently on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

by Kelly Brignac
October 14, 2009

Eudora Welty not only offers insight into southern culture through literature, but she also reveals the history of the Mississippi State Fair through photographs.

Welty's collection of state fair photographs, "Merriment on the Midway," is currently on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The photographs, many left untitled by Welty, feature common sights of the fair in the 1930s and the 1940s—many familiar to today's fair-goers, such as the Ferris wheel and a ride that spins its passengers upside down.

The fair from the good old days also offered now-unfamiliar attractions. One sideshow boasted a sign that reads, "It tells you everything." The sideshow could not tell anything to children under 16 years old, however. A 10-cent insect circus also attracted children and adults.

Welty offers more than just pictures of a fair. She lends insight into her world, which is surprisingly similar to the modern world. As in her mural also on display titled "State Fair," today's fair features fried foods (although we now have a talent for frying anything, including Oreos), brightly colored rides, exhibits and plenty of fair enthusiasts.

The heat certainly has not disappeared since Welty took these photos. One features a young boy sitting in a folding chair, looking thoroughly miserable in the sweltering heat.

Finally, a sense of community exists in Welty's fair, as well as our own. One of the last photographs in the exhibition features three middle-aged women gazing at a Ferris wheel in the distance, arms wrapped around each other's waists. People brought family and friends to the fair to enjoy each other's company in Welty's time, as now.

Listen to Welty: Brave the heat and rain and the slightly scary fried foods; bring a friend and enjoy the sights and sounds of today's Mississippi State Fair.

"Merriment on the Midway: Eudora Welty's State Fair Mural and Photographs" will be on exhibit in the Mississippi Museum of Art's public corridor until Jan. 3, 2010. The exhibit is free to the public.