Attend a community event or fair.

“Honestly, it baffles me why I not only tolerate the State Fair, but I actually love it! Normally, I hate crowds, especially in hot weather. But the State Fair is different. I’ve gone at least once every year with my kids from when they were babies until they were old enough to start working at the fair. There’s some magical combination of tradition and novelty at the Fair. We enjoy standards like the Big Giant Slide, Little Farmhands, and the DNR buildings. But there’s also always a new food to try or a new show to enjoy. As for the crowds, I was there with my kids on a record daily attendance day in 2018. In the center of the intersection of Cooper and Nelson, it became so crowded that no one could move! It was one of those “huh, now what do we do?” moments. But the beauty of it was that no one was mad! Everyone was stuck in place, but it seemed funny, not upsetting.”

“Its the big day, and I’m heading to the fair with the mindset of “I’ll stay back, I’m coming here for me really, I won’t interact too closely with them, but still sorta be part of the group.) I arrived at 12, and in 30 minutes we’re off! Honestly, it was awkward. There were some strange silences, odd ways of walking with each other, dumb little things, but they added up. I spoke frequently though, I wasn’t being weird, just not contributing in every conversation. I rode rides alone (it was awesome,) sat down and listened to a guy play his guitar on a community stage, he stopped singing and started talking, “now I dont normally add comments to songs, but I had something rather unusual happen to me recently. Instead of two people standing up and leaving, I had two people sit down and watch!” A Mexican guy called me cabron too! First time ever! 30 minutes later, I find 5 people that I went to school with and we have a blast! I actually laughed! A guttural laugh! I smiled, we talked, I talked to everyone in the group! We ride rides, tell jokes! When it was me and my “friends,” when we walked there wasn’t much talking, or I couldn’t join in without seeming like a kid, so I didn’t. And I wasn’t bothered by it! And later, with the new group, I had so much fucking fun it was worth every second!”