The 2012 annual fair in Freeborn County kicked off appropriately enough with a birth – in a bathroom near the Cattle Barn. A baby boy was born Tuesday to parents who both work for the carnival group Merriam’s Midway Shows, the Austin Daily Herald reports. Dale Merriam, a semi-retired owner of the traveling carnival, said the mother had worked just Monday night until after midnight setting up for the fair. A collection was being taken for the parents.