It wasn’t fair of us to assume

This week, we offer a little lesson in journalism -- a secret lesson,

though one that lately hasn’t been exactly hidden away.

Exactly one week ago, we strongly encouraged readers to get out to

the Orange County Fair. “What are you waiting for?” we asked. “Can’t

you hear the rides, the stamping of thousands of feet, the running of

tiny pigs’ legs?”

It turns out plenty of you could, and had, heard all those fair

sounds. And it turns out our exhortation, penned on Friday as the

fair was just getting started, was about as necessary as eating a big

lunch before heading to the fairgrounds.

Opening day at the fair, we now know, was a record: 53,144 people

compared with 42,427 in 2004. It was a grand start toward reaching

the goal of 1 million visitors.

Now, we don’t feel like we’ve been caught writing about a

basketball game we never intended to attend or anything like that,

but the fair has proven to be a good reminder of an old, tried, yet

still very true journalistic tenant: Never assume. More locally, that

tenant could read: Never guess our readers need any encouragement to

get to the fair.

That said, if you haven’t been yet, what are you waiting for?