While searching for something very unrelated on Flickr moments ago, I stumbled across this collection of 61 photos just posted by a Seattle man named Steve Lundeen. Steve didn't take these photos of the State Fair of Texas in 1977 -- his late father-in-law, Nick DeWolf, did (some from the Swiss Skyride that closed down two years later following an accident that killed one person). DeWolf, incidentally, was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who, in 1960, co-founded Teradyne. Which means, right, the guy was a genius and a legend in the burgeoning high-tech world way back when.
Steve has been posting DeWolf's archives to Flickr; he adds some 20 to 50 pictures a day. He's been adding the Fair Pair photos to the stash throughout the week. Says Steve, there are "thousands" of images left to digitize and share. He will let me known when more Dallas pictures are added, and I will update accordingly.
Till then, then, it's back to '77 -- when the State Fair had a freak show, which looks far more depressing from this distance than it did through my 9-year-old eyes. No wonder my father wouldn't let me into to the tent -- it wasn't scary, which was his excuse, just sad. I do miss the roller coaster, though.
Update at 6:20 p.m.: Since I posted this, Steve's added another 15 photos.
