26 September 2006

the cars crash - on purpose

remember that movie Down & Derby? neither do i. but earlier this month i did go to the first demolition derby ever in my life and it was the best seven bucks i've spent in a long time.

Manti, Utah is not known for its dining establishments or clothing stores but we have to ask ourselves, do those things really matter? what makes Manti the unique Central Utah town that it is, is the stuff it's citizens are made out of... for example: the Mormon Miracle Pageant, the True & Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, the Yardley Inn, and of course the Sanpete County Fair.


true, the rides and roosters probably don't differ too much from those at the Utah State Fair or even the California State Fair. but just you wait little buddy... that announcer from the local radio station is going to bring you right back to Sanpete county (oh, and the beautiful back drop doesn't hurt either).
pay close attention to the Deseret Book ads this Sunday - prints are on sale for a good price.

this semester i try once a week to convince my students that there's more to movies than romance and explosions when i encourage them to come to (art) film night at Snow. but the fact of the matter is, everyone loves a good car crash and the derby just affirmed this fact. chewing on a hot dog with ketchup and mustard i stood on the bleachers and cheered and ahwed with everyone else as the ultimate bumper cars played out in front of me. and with each bash i was secretly hoping for a car to catch fire.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!

kel said...

not only will you be a better person for coming to the derby next year, but you will be a smarter person too. i know that seems counterintuitive, but it's true.

Anonymous said...

The only time I went to the Manti Pagent, I was so bored and annoyed by the "Young Men" I was wrangling, that I just sat and day-dreamed the whole time that the kids I was with were in another car (not mine) and that I was crashing into them. When I saw that picture of the crash in front of the temple, it was pretty much a visual interpretation of my fantasy.

Don't worry, I'm sure you weren't the only one hoping to see flames. When I we went to a Monster Truck Show a couple years back, all the hillbillies around me were like "eh.. a big truck driving over a little truck - yawn", but whenever a truck tiped over or almost tiped over, the crowd went wild!

We want to go next year too.