I’m totally going to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair on Saturday. It’s an excellent fair, with genuinely fun, scary rides, a demolition derby, pig races, the full Ag competition thing ranging from chickens to rabbits to steer, and all the delicious, fattening fair food you could hope for. So I was deeply disturbed to run across the news this morning that the fair is subject to the county’s trans fat ban, which passed last year and is now fully in place.

Look, I know that trans fats are terrible for you. In general, I’m glad when cities and other municipalities start creating incentives for restaurant chefs and short order cooks to find alternative oils and cooking methods to help us reduce the risk of heart disease. But should there really be zero exceptions for a trans fat ban? This is a county fair we’re talking about here. The idea is you’re supposed to overindulge in crazy food you would not normally consume except once a year. By all means, force restaurants that serve people on a regular basis to fry their potatoes in healthier oil. But if I find out this weekend that you’ve removed the flavor from my funnel cake, or made deep frying Oreo cookies impossible, there will be hell to pay.

The Montgomery County Fair begins this Saturday and runs through Aug. 16.

Photo by melanie.phung