State Fair Fun is On the Way!

Free condoms, free buttons, and a whole lot of important information: it’s almost that time of year again, time for the great New York State Fair! Beginning on August 23rd, the fairgrounds (located in Syracuse, NY) will be filled with people from all walks of life enjoying the hundreds of attractions that the Fair has to offer. Of course, the attraction that should be on the top of your list is visiting the Planned Parenthood booth in the Center of Progress building. Let me tell you why. 

As a native of Syracuse, NY, I have been attending the Fair for as long as I can remember- Planned Parenthood themselves have been seen at the Fair for decades. Throughout those years my experience of the fair has transformed. The days of showing up with a group of hoodlum friends dressed in band tee-shirts and neon knee-socks have passed. And, I admit, it’s nice to no longer attend just to ride as many rides as I can with some boy I met at the homecoming game. As I have grown up, my vision of the Fair has grown up, but two things have stayed constant throughout time: eating as much Fair food as I possibly can, and always visiting the Planned Parenthood booth. Whether it was to get cool buttons for my L.L. Bean monogrammed backpack, or today, to pick up pamphlets and contact cards- and let’s be real, free condoms- the Planned Parenthood booth has always been a favorite of mine.

So, it’s fitting that during the last summer I will ever enjoy (after graduation, POOF there goes what’s known as a “real” summer vacation) I get to spend a few days working at the very booth I have come to know and love. I’ll be at the Planned Parenthood booth from 10AM to 4PM September 1st-3rd, and it’s overwhelming just thinking about the things I will encounter. It’s inevitable that I’ll feel a touch of nostalgia when people stop to pick up some free stuff, but I’m really looking forward to engaging in meaningful conversations with those who have had life-changing experiences thanks to the work of Planned Parenthood. I’m positive that there are many.

My dad, as well as many other adult figures in my life, always told me “you learn something new every day”. No matter what kind of information it is, you have more knowledge than you did the day before. Being informed and equipped with knowledge is the best way to assure that you are ready for anything that life throws your way. Visiting the Planned Parenthood booth at the New York State Fair has always acted as a great source of knowledge for me, and has had a great impact on my decision making skills. So please, come visit me this year as I have my own turn at spreading the knowledge Planned Parenthood has to offer!

Photo courtesy of www.nysfair.org

Elise
Marketing Intern

PPRSR: Making Friends at the Fair

Volunteering at the New York State Fair with Planned Parenthood is something I had been looking forward to since last year. The Fair is a crazy place, filled with every type of New Yorker you can imagine. The Center of Progress (a fitting name to house the PPRSR table) is no different. There are tables selling sheets and jewelry, vendors selling hand lotions and irons, religious groups and politicians, as well as both a pro-life table and ours.

We handed out a bunch of different buttons:

My favorite is definitely "Trust Women." It's so perfect and simple, and yet basically encompasses everything there is about being pro-choice and empowering women.if women were universally trusted to make their own decisions - about their bodies, their babies, their needs and wants, etc - there wouldn't be any pro-life rhetoric.

Strangely enough, that pin illicits the strangest reactions. At least 5 times, a couple walked by, the man picks up the pin, looks at us, and says "Trust women?? Have you ever met this woman?" Some people joke around that it should say "NEVER Trust Women." Har har har, aren't these people funny? We usually responded with something like "Funny! You know, trusting women is actually quite easy!" What did they expect us to say?

Another good pin is "Viva La Vulva." This one is written in the smallest font, so older people kept asking me to read it for them. I probably yelled "It says VIVA la VULVA" 10 times per shift. There were also a surprising number of people who didn't know what a vulva was! We made sure to teach everyone who seemed confused.

The only snag we ran into this year was running out of condoms! Last year, we ran out of pins, so we made sure we had a ton of pins - but this year we didn't have enough condoms! We made a sign and put it at our booth:

I can't tell you how many people walked by and reacted to that sign - more than would've reacted to a giant bowl of condoms, for sure. People laughed and pointed, people gasped, people ran and got their friends to take a look - but more than anything, people got out their cell phones and took pictures. I'm waiting for this photo to go viral.

All in all, I had a blast at the PPRSR booth at the Fair. And if you were one of the sad souls that came to the booth too late for free condoms, make sure you take a trip to your local Planned Parenthood to stock up!