"I Really Feel As If I Have Forgotten An Article Of Clothing."

     That's more-or-less how Tam put it; we had -- without consulting one another -- both decided to comply with one of Indiana's very few state-mandated victim-disarmament zones[1] and refrained from carrying sidearms while at the State Fair.

     I can -- sort of -- see their point; the Fair typically has outdoor crowd densities of the sort that make Fire Marshals twitchy and nervous, and the more-popular indoor venues sometimes resemble a Tokyo subway at rush hour. (And they'll let you lock your gun in your car in the State Fair parking lots,[2] at least.)

     Still, it's a strangely naked feeling and much worse for Tam than for me; I'm vain enough to rarely carry IWB or OC, whereas she puts a holstered gun on her belt as a part of putting on jeans, as automatically as you tie your shoes.

     ...Withal, it's worth it for our State Fair.  I don't have any grounds for comparison but I'll tell you, Indiana puts on a heck of a show, from 4-Hers and their critters to local beers and wines to technology old and new, a zillion tasty things to eat, rides and midway contests of luck and skill, High School Band Day competition, concerts, hucksters, DNR archery and angling and I don't know what all else lessons, crafts of every sort, the Historic Antique Drugstore (open year 'round, bring the kids in to see the leeches!) and -- as we were leaving -- a Peruvian folk band cranking out a remarkable arrangement of "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" on traditional instruments.  If you can't find something you like (maybe the 3-D zoetrope or the guy who sells rubber duckies in the accoutrements of a few hundred trades and professions?), you're probably dead already.

     --It would seem this posting, written last night, incited the Fates: here's what happens if you get caught with firearms at the State Fair. (tl;dr?  He was walked right back out, they handed his unloaded guns back, and he probably had to go to bed without supper. No Fair for him!)  The video, at least when I saw it. contained some fact errors, referring to the law as "policy" and claiming it was in effect all of the time.  Nope; the State Fairgrounds are a disarmament zone only while the Fair itself is on.  That where the Indy 1500 Gun Show is during non-Fair times!
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1. This is a matter of law:

 80 IAC 4-4-4 Deadly weapons prohibited
Authority: IC 15-13-2-9
Affected: IC 15-13-2; IC 15-13-7
Sec. 4. (a) This rule does not apply to a federal, state, or local law enforcement officer or to a person who has been employed or authorized by the state fair commission to provide security protection and services during the annual state fair.
(b) No person in possession of a deadly weapon shall be permitted onto or be permitted to remain on the fairgrounds during the annual state fair.
(c) Any deadly weapon found in the possession of a person while on the fairgrounds during the annual state fair is subject to immediate confiscation by law enforcement officers or other personsauthorized by the executive director of the state fair commission.
(d) Any person properly licensed to carry a firearm must secure the firearm in a locked compartment of his or her vehicle, and it shall not be visible to passersby. (State Fair Commission; 80 IAC 4-4-4; filed Jul 7, 2003, 3:15 p.m.: 26 IR 3538; readopted filed Oct 4, 2007, 10:29 a.m.: 20071024-IR-080070451RFA)

As written, this law applies to knives, too, but I have never had my belt-carried Latherman multi-tool or pocket-clip knife questioned at the Fair.

 2. However, the cautious gunnie nevertheless does not use the overflow parking at the Deaf School immediately to the north: it is, after all, a school.