NPR reporters spend a lot of time chasing politicians around looking for interviews. Sometimes the encounter is in a district office. Sometimes it's in a diner. Sometimes the location, unexpectedly, becomes the best part of the story, as happened this week at the Stark County Fair in Northeast Ohio.
SCOTT SIMON, host: NPR reporters spend a lot of time chasing around politicians for interviews. Sometimes the encounter is in a district office, sometimes a diner. Sometimes the location unexpectedly becomes the best part of the story.</s>SCOTT SIMON, host: So it happened to NPR political correspondent Don Gonyea this week at the Stark County Fair in Northeast Ohio.</s>DON GONYEA: I had spent the day looking at a hot congressional race. I caught up with the candidates at the county fair in Canton, Ohio. I had what I needed so I headed to the Midway.</s>Unidentified Woman: The Stark County Junior Fair Youth Awards presentations will be starting at 7:00 p.m. in the pavilion...</s>DON GONYEA: What I found was a piece of my boyhood. Rides I hadn't seen in decades: the Loop-O-Plane, the Sky Diver, the Scrambler.</s>DON GONYEA: Then there were the funnel cakes, fried cheese, fried Twinkies. One brightly lit trailer was selling fried veggies, pandering to modern sensibilities. I had a corn dog.</s>DON GONYEA: Way over on the far edge of the fairgrounds, I saw the huge sign mounted on top of a trailer. The Headless Woman - it read - Still Alive. A metal loudspeaker lured people in.</s>Unidentified Man: A real live girl but where is her head? Can a human being stay alive with no head? How far can modern science go? Is this possible?</s>DON GONYEA: Let's just say it probably wasn't the best $2 I've ever spent. I skipped the attraction one lot over - a live rat weighing 100 pounds, the exhibit promised. That's when another sound lured me away from the midway to the grandstands.</s>DON GONYEA: It was a battle of the bands - high School marching bands, with flag corps, baton twirlers. These were the Aviators of Alliance High School.</s>DON GONYEA: It was fun, even if I've heard Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" a few hundred times too many.</s>DON GONYEA: I came to the Stark County Fair looking for a few quotes from politicians. Sometimes you find something else.</s>DON GONYEA: Don Gonyea, NPR News.