STEP RIGHT UP, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! In the early 1970s, there was still a pretty vibrant sideshow at the Bloomsburg State Fair. Not like today, where the most you get is a chance to see some awful smelling South American wild pig that would kind of look like a really big rat if you didn't actually know what a real rat looks like. My philosophy has always been that if you are going to pay a buck and a half to see a rat, it ought to be a real one. But then, I guess finding a three foot rat to put in your side show these days is pretty hard. You can also usually still find some kind of big snake to gawk at so the kids can say “Why ain’t it movin’?” while they try to get it interested in the two dollars’ worth of caramel corn you just bought them and that they are now throwing into the cage. But there sure isn't anything like the sideshows they had when we were kids. (You don’t get the hoochie kootchie shows anymore, either. I guess the internet put a dent into that.)