The West Side Nut Club’s Fall Festival is well underway, and the weather seems to be cooperating beautifully to provide the optimal experience for festival-goers.

As an Evansville native of 20 years, I’m a huge fan of October and of this fried-food extravaganza. Although, honestly, I don’t really care to spend my money on most of the things they fry.

Being a seasoned veteran of the event , I can honestly say  I look forward to the first full week in October every year. However, I have also realized over the past few years that I’ve been setting the bar too high for my expectations of the festival.

So, I’m trying not to get my hopes up anymore.

I’m not saying the festival isn’t fun. I’m saying, as I get older, the amount of fun I have feels more insignificant.

In middle school and early high school, going to the Fall Festival basically amounted to the best week of the year. Now that I’m a junior in college, it’s more like one aspect of a pretty good week.

When you grow up, you lose that youthful element of adventure and living carefree. So what we’re left with is an overcrowded rides and games section and a lot of food booths.

Of course, I still like all of these things, but year after year it feels like the same week is being revisited. I think we could afford to spice things up.

Even the events that are put on every year are basically just the same ones as the year before, or at least variations of them.

I want to see some new events and new attractions for the future.

I understand preserving the setup and nature of the festival, but I think we can continue to do that while still managing to bring in more well-known and talented local and regional talent.

The Amateur Hour is great, but after a while, it starts feeling like the epitome of the festival.