Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is the big event which (almost) always brings me home.
Before Freshmen Year
I now knew I would be going to high school at St. Mary’s. My family would take me to all kinds of events for the coming Class of 2013.
First came a basketball game. I grabbed my first batch of St. Mary’s clothes there. Only thing which still fits from that first set would be the hat. Still, I really enjoyed taking that first photo decked out in red and black.
Some old family friends even recruited my parents to run the snack canteen at football and basketball games. It was apparently a family tradition. My maternal grandparents had run the show long ago.
But basketball games were not the grandest thing on my way to freshmen year. No, that would be St. Mary’s premier fundraising event, the finest celebration of the school’s Polish roots. That great Memorial Day tradition, the Polish Country Fair.
That First Fair
Only thing I knew about the fair was that my grandparents also used to run the bakery booth. I almost wondered if we would be recruited for that too.
There would probably just be booths and picnic areas here and there. Maybe a few carnival games and some music.
The first sight of the fair blew those expectations out of the water.
All kinds of rides and attractions towered in the distance. They filled the forty acres behind the school’s fieldhouse. Parking overstuffed the rest of the campus.
I would soon learn this fair actually held two records. Largest high school fair in the nation, and second largest fair in the state of Michigan, behind only the State Fair.
I greeted my future headmaster Glow at the entrance to the main tent. It was the first time I saw him out of a suit. We talked for a while until I went to check the campus bookstore’s table.
Most of my remaining time was spent eating Polish food and ice cream. To walk off meals, I would take strolls along the rest of the fair grounds.
I was never one for rides, but there was still something about being in a place like this. Something so grand that exists for only four days out of the year. Something so much more amazing than anyone would expect it to be.
Four years at a place like this were bound to be incredible.
Working the Fair
Students and parents work the fair. They do everything from managing the parking lot to frying pierogis to delivering beverages. Only real exception would be the midway games and rides run by outside companies.
The required ten hours were earned across two five-hour shifts. Anyone who had not completed their community service hours for the year could handle those with extra fair shifts.
I wanted to enjoy the fair, not work it. To relax at school year’s end with Polish food and ice cream. Not study for finals from behind a deep fryer.
Thing is, this feeling was just another case of me resisting something good.
Working the fair would bring some of my best moments at St. Mary’s.
My freshmen year started at the grill. Parents cooked and handled cash, so I just needed to make sure people got what they ordered.
My second shift I was moved to the entrance gate. Pretty easy time there just stamping people’s hands to prove they entered from the intended entrance. Though it was surprising how many people found issue with this process. To some, it was like you asked for their firstborn child.
My remaining years switched to the Polish Combo. There I went from working the line to sitting in the pierogi frying tent. That tent was the best. Fryers could sit, relax, and eat any extra pierogis they cooked.
Best part of working the fair though? That would be sharing the experience with everyone else.
There was something great about seeing where everyone worked and why. Was that a booth run by their parents? Were they looking for an easy shift? Did they sign up after everything else was taken?
It really was something intriguing.
We even had our own place to hang out just us workers. A cookout behind the main tent. The perfect place for lunch or dinner breaks. Signature item was our Dean of Students’ famous chili dogs also made for Open House and Spirit Week.
After Graduation
Going to the fair was a different experience after having worked it for four years.
I went after my freshmen year of college and had a decent time. Ran into a few friends but overall had little to do.
After that, I did not return for a while.
Each year had its own excuses. Sometimes the weather was bad. Other times the temperature was hot. No matter what, something could always be found.
Over time, I tended to want these excuses to come. It is hard to explain.
I was someone awesome at St. Mary’s. Everyone knew me. I pretty much knew everyone. This was where I earned my nickname Kotch.
That was a very different life from my college days.
I had a few good friends, but I could never do much with them. Coursework was heavy. We barely spent any time together on campus aside from class. I was needed at home more often than not.
Looking back, I would not have changed much about my college days. Still, there were quite a few times I felt distanced from who I once was.
Return to the Fair
Excuses ran out before my final year of college.
I would be certified to be a high school teacher. Returning to St. Mary’s was of great interest to me. The fair was the perfect place to get myself back in the administration’s mind.
On the ride there, I should have been excited. Instead, I felt an odd knot in my stomach. At the same time I was happy to return, I did not want to go back.
Was I still who I had been?
The car arrived at the fair, and I found my answer.
Old friends met again. Not a day was lost.
The second I found someone, we jumped back to where we last left off. Did not matter what any of us become in the past four years.
Musicians, engineers, salesmen. Did not matter. We were still who we had been in all the right ways. We were still brothers from our four years together. Whether we had started our lives or were still in school.
St. Mary’s is home. I cannot believe there was a time I nearly let myself forget that. The realization struck me so hard it gave me a poem.
At 15 lines and 75 words, “Coming Home” is far from one of my more ambitious epics. All the same, it has proven one of the most powerful things I have ever written.
Always Home
If you have been to this blog, you probably know much of where the story goes from here.
I ran discussions in my final college classes, found success in student teaching, and returned to St. Mary’s as faculty.
This past year of subbing and dorm work has been amazing. It has opened doors and will likely open more as time goes on.
St. Mary’s brings out the best in me. There could be no better spot for me to being both as a teacher and as a writer.
Now the first year back is drawing to a close. All that remains is to go to this year’s Polish Country Fair. In fact, I will likely be there the moment this post goes live.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
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