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Fair results..?

D

DavHut

New member
[size=small]...Had a nice couple days lately. Yesterday, a long chat with my daughter, who lives in Columbia - and my dad popped in to get a rifle for some deer hunting this weekend. Then this morning, I jumped a nice buck of my own. But, the better part of any day is DETECTING. So...

I took a little swing through the fairgrounds yesterday and again today. I've been map searching a few "off the path" old sites, but haven't tied them down yet - so it's off to the fair! It's my "fallback" site, when I have limited time or nowhere else to go.
With the 'Ol Treasure Truck all loaded up, I'm off... [attachment 40915 truck.JPG]

Here's a little location teaser, a 'sign of the times'. :bouncy:
[attachment 40916 fairsign2.JPG]

Fairground gridding has begun, now that I have a fairly detailed map of the place. I've mentioned my grid stakes before; here they are in action with my well-worn, homemade deep digger.
[attachment 40918 grid.JPG]
Three grid stakes are tied together with cord to form 2 sides of a 12 ft. square. I just move around the grounds, "pulling up stakes" and moving to adjacent spaces, rebuilding the grid square each time. This way, I cover a known, measured area, which I can mark off on my map.

All this extra effort has started paying off. Here's the gleanings for a few hours from yesterday:
[attachment 40919 goodies.JPG]
The round thingie next to the nicks is iron - maybe a electrical knockout. In the middle is a junk earring and a small gold locket beside THAT. Above the locket is a silver charm/doo-dad that reads, "You Have to KISS a lot of Frogs Before You Find Your Prince," and a broken, El Cheapo ID bracelet that reads "Kenny." The earring is the third I've found here - NO rings. I expect the "Hog and Hominy Effect" will prevent me from finding any "O"s.

Here's the pickings for this mornings 2 hours; only coins...
[attachment 40920 today2.JPG]
I broke quota both days and this is only the tippy-tip of the iceberg. Here's the total in just coins for the last two sessions:
[attachment 40921 2triptotalb.JPG]

As I've worked, my idea of 'trash suites' is beginning to prove itself, too. Massaging my concept a bit, I've developed a tiered approach to working this site (or any other, I should imagine). So far, so good.:wiggle:[/size]
 
Looking good David. Looks lioke you are finding your "fair share".
 
...This thing was just thrown together from some odds and ends around the shop. for all of the inelegance of it, it is probably the tool I use the most.
The shovel blade is a section of 3" EMT conduit cut in half lengthwise with the pointy end cut in. The first piece of the handle is a section of black iron pipe, angle cut to give the proper ergonomic leverage and then welded to the EMT conduit blade. Then I added the coupling so I could adjust the remaining handle length until I got it how I liked it in field use. Finally, I added a bell reducer to the end as a "knob" handle...which needs to have the end ground off.
[attachment 40961 digr1.JPG]
[attachment 40962 Digr2.JPG]

I also have a homemade entrenching shovel, similarly made. The blade for that is a shark-tooth shaped piece of 1/8 scrap sheet stock, with the same sort of handle arrangement, only longer. I fitted a "T" to the end of it for a grip. If you're interested, I'll post pics of that, too.
 
For those of you sleuths who have figured out the location (not too hard), be warned. You WILL be ejected if you lack permission. It took some good networking skills (schmoozing) for me to secure it!
 
You are a very detailed person. I am sure if there is something to get, you will get it.
Our fair ended this week. I can just imagine all the trash. If you start pulling out some good stuff, I might give it a try. It is also where we have our weekly farmer's market. I am not sure I could get in.
 
[size=small]You are right. There is lots of trash. A million pull tabs, plenty of foil to confound and the worst nightmare of all, lightbulbs.

Imagine the last midway you attended. Picture all the rides with their gaily lit facades. The innumerable light bulbs, winking like stars in the nightsky, luring you with their colorful, sirens call...Now, imagine the day after when those bulbs have burned out and need to be replaced. Guess where they go?
Yep, tossed on the ground like the junk they are.

They read smack on the nickle range, they are the same size and will drive you batty, believe me. The 1350's GTA doesnt sort them well enough to be reliable, so I switched to the Ace. It does better. But the Rosetta Stone has been the Tesoro Golden. With practice, I am able to tell the bulbs from nicks approaching 100% of the time. It is a matter of degree and must be finely tuned, but it works.

Now, I dont know what you call "good stuff," but thousands of people packed into a rather small area for 11 days, is bound to leave something behind. Consider the teens rough-housing, the rides flipping everyone around and simply the sheer numbers.

Yes, in this case, you need permission and I didn't bring it up only to "stake my claim." These fairgrounds are private property and the owners stand on that with security patrols and sharp-eyed members. I managed to get permission partly out of luck and partly out of good people skills. Yeah, I guard that, too. But, for your own sake, just be sure ahead of time.

The best thing is that when I run out of other places to hunt or am in the midst of finding new ones, the fairgrounds are always there. I use them to refine my pinpointing and probing skills, too, which I have always been lacking in.

The down side is they are not old. The older fairgrounds are now a parking lot, Burger King and derelict skating rink. There were a few others that I know of, but they have yielded little or are gone, too.[/size]
 
Did you go the the fair and located the upside down rides? In my home town the whole fair is set up on pavement. I would need your home made digger to get through that. Hope you get plenty of goodies and lots of battery money.
 
I didnt go to the fair this year. But the the good rides are always in the same general area of the grounds, year after year. This is why I turn up so much in small search area's.

I also know there are eyeballers who come out after the fair leaves, picking up the easy stuff - until they get run off. I even tried it once myself. But, there arent the detectorists you might expect, and so I never get far before I load up and either give out or run out of time.
 
Another place to find ols sites is the library. Go through the entertainment and religious sections of the old newspapers and look for sites of old carnivals, tent revivals, outdoor skating rinks, church socials, rummage sales, outdoor baptism sites, drive-in movies, sports events, celebrations of all types. Check old business directories for former sites of businesses of all types.

Bill
 
Ive done alot of that old newspaper searching. One thing I leaarned was that they rarely gave precise directions to anything. It was always, "...in the usual place" or "...on Peebles farm," something like that. I suppose it's because in small towns like mine, everyone knew where stuff was already!
 
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