Who's that jack ass on the jack ass?

Aug. 10—The Huron County Fair is a special week for many people.

When I came to Norwalk years ago I didn't realize how important a county fair was. I thought milk came in glass bottle from Lawson's. I thought hamburger came from McDonald's.

Growing up in Livonia, Mich., we didn't have a county fair.

But I remember my mom taking us to the Michigan State Fair in Detroit.

There were the games and animals and food, but the thing I remember the most was watching Joie Chitwood Thrill Show.

What a thrill that was.

In 1942, stuntman Earl "Lucky" Teter died and Chitwood took over his show. He began to operate the "Joie Chitwood Thrill Show." The show was an exhibition of auto stunt driving that became very successful. Often called "Hell Drivers," he had five units that for more than 40 years toured across North America thrilling audiences in large and small towns alike with their death-defying automobile stunts. Chitwood performed a ramp-to-ramp jump with a car that was devised by Teter. Chitwood and his son Joie Jr. perfected driving a car on two wheels.

His show was so popular, that in January 1967, the performance at the Islip Speedway, New York, was broadcast on ABC television's Wide World of Sports.

The show was featured during season 3 of CHiPs in an episode entitled "Thrill Show". Joie Jr. did stunts for Miami Vice on several occasions. Joie Jr. also appeared as a guest challenger on the TV game show To Tell The Truth. Joie Jr. worked in over 60 feature films and national commercials.

In 1984 the show was featured in the movie Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, where Sheriff Justice ends up the star of the show during his pursuit of The Bandit.

Chitwood's show was credited by Evel Knievel as being his inspiration to become a daredevil when his show appeared in his home town of Butte, Mont.

I never saw anything quite as exciting as that at the Huron County Fair, but I was part of something that was almost as crazy.

Flash back to the Northeast blackout of 2003, a widespread power outage throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and most parts of the Canadian province of Ontario beginning just after 4:10 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003.

Most places restored power by midnight (within 7 hours), some as early as 6 p.m. (within 2 hours), while the New York City Subway resumed limited services around 8 p.m.

I was scheduled to participate in a donkey race that night at the Huron County Fair.

A lot of people were invited and Fair Board President Bob Morgan was expecting a huge crowd.

When the blackout occurred I figured I was off the hook, but Morgan and the board decided to press on.

"We had a lot of county and city executives coming and it was going to be a big show," Morgan said. "We had a generator and set up the sound system."

The show did go on, but minus many of the headliners because they had more important things to take care of.

I remember as we lined up with our donkeys I had a bad feeling.

And I was right.

Huron County Sheriff Dick Sutherland, who recently passed away, was thrown off his donkey and messed up his shoulder. And I remember he wasn't the only one hurt that night.

Not me. They gave me a little donkey that I could stand over and not even have to sit on it.

I didn't win the race, but I didn't get hurt.

When was the last time you saw a jackass riding a jackass?

Morgan has seen and done a lot of things during his 30-plus years on the fair board. He said this was one of those nights that was going to be big.

But it just wasn't meant to be.

"A lot of people shut down, but the ride operators had generators and so did the food vendors," Morgan said. "As it was getting dark, we were in one of the barns starting to get the people out when I heard something pop. It was the power coming back on."

It was one of those nights Morgan will never forget.

Just when you thought you have seen it all, something else comes along — like the pandemic.

But for this one night, when expectations were so high, the lights went out before they ever came on.

See you at the fair.

Joe Centers is Reflector community editor. He can be reached at jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.