# Did COVID kill Kissing Booths at fairs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2024, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113 "2024-02-05T02:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/21 "2024-02-05T19:47:59Z")
I’m with everyone else, never saw one in real life. Only ever saw it in sitcoms growing up it seems. Glad it’s not a thing anymore, I always thought it was pretty gross. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/22 "2024-02-05T19:58:27Z")
So why the thread? The OP sounded like you recently pre-COVID saw an actual kissing booth, but, like everyone else in this thread, you haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/23 "2024-02-05T20:10:56Z")
Soon to be 66, and I’ve never seen one. In fact, I thought the idea was created for movies. Weirdest thing I ever saw was a “wrestle the bear” thing near the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland circa 1975. You signed a release and could wrestle the muzzled black bear. The guy running things kept saying “ABSOLUTELY no punching”. The bear won each time, easily pushing men around. One guy started showboating, dancing around the ring. He punched the bear in the snout and the bear went apeshit on the guy, bruised him up pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/24 "2024-02-05T20:43:05Z")
I have not seen one outside of a cartoon, perhaps in a 1960s era New Yorker or Playboy. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/25 "2024-02-05T20:44:04Z")
Originally it was “Has anyone ever actually seen a legitimately kissing booth before?” but I thought I’d make the title a gag as well. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/26 "2024-02-05T20:45:43Z")
I think there was a kissing booth at a fair I went to in 1977 or so (pf the kiss on the cheek type) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/27 "2024-02-05T20:49:46Z")
2018! > **[Kissing opportunities presented during fair](https://norfolkdailynews.com/news/kissing-opportunities-presented-during-fair/article_b03f92bc-9f00-11e8-b34c-9fc4855036ec.html)** > > WEST POINT — Burdette Kratke of Pender met her husband, the late Duane Kratke, while both of the Cuming County 4-H’ers were working at the Cuming County 4-H Junior Leader ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/28 "2024-02-05T20:57:15Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Originally it was “Has anyone ever actually seen a legitimately kissing booth before?” but I thought I’d make the title a gag as well. ⁢ And here I thought maybe you just hadn’t been to a fair since the 1990s. I can’t say I have. The local one was never really that big a thing. I only really went because my aunt ran things there, and it was nice to catch up with family (and ride a merry go round). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/29 "2024-02-05T21:11:55Z")
A similar thread from 2009: [Do they have kissing booths at fairs anymore?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-have-kissing-booths-at-fairs-anymore/508462) where I posted basically my same answer about the booth at the RenFaire. A couple of people remembered and commented about it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/30 "2024-02-05T21:12:14Z")
I get instant lip herpes only thinking about the concept. I hope kissing booths were never real. ETA: almost 30 years ago, I visited the famous [Greek Orthodox monasteries at Meteora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora). One of them hosted a famous icon, and people lined up before it to kiss it, without any sanitary measures, not even wiping it before or after kissing it. I was disgusted, and I place kissing booths in the same category. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/31 "2024-02-05T21:16:28Z")
I have never seen one. In the SCA we did have some “Cloved lemon” flirting games, but they were consensual. And long ago. I think Herpes killed them, and neo-puritanism. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/32 "2024-02-05T21:18:13Z")
Herbes, The Love Bug? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/33 "2024-02-05T21:22:33Z")
🤪 😀 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/34 "2024-02-05T21:29:30Z")
I see Kissing Booths as low-level prostitution for charity. Not a good look. I believe that concerns over sexual harassment/abuse were far more of an issue than COVID. ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/35 "2024-02-05T22:40:21Z")
Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/36 "2024-02-06T01:02:27Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > The original NorCal Renaissance Faire had a version called “soak a bloke” and “drench a wench”. For a couple of bucks you were given some sponges and shot them with a slingshot at a lineup of members of opposite sex standing just barely within range. The contestant got to kiss anyone they hit. As I recall the booths disappeared in the mid-80s and were replaced by the more sedate version where you’d hit a target and dunk someone in a tub of water. They replaced that with throwing tomatoes at somebody. I think that’s gone now. Its been 8 years since I’ve gone. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/37 "2024-02-06T08:21:02Z")
A GLBT Pride Festival circa ~1991, the local nudist group had a “Hug a Naturalist” display in the park. They were wearing a wooden barrel – I guess if you got a hug you were close enough to see down inside the barrel. But no kissing booths ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/38 "2024-02-06T08:50:09Z")
Kissing booths haven’t gone entirely out of style. [Here’s instructions for making one from the ASPCA.](https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/how-build-canine-kissing-booth) Did I need to hide that link to an image of bestiality? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/39 "2024-02-06T10:33:50Z")
Last time I saw a kissing booth was at a student fair in high school (graduated 1979) southeastern Wisconsin. It was a dime or a quarter, I forget which. About a month or so later half the student body had mono. That ended that. > [@Grrr](#): > > I mean aren’t they technically illegal? Why would they be? Unless it included the sex organ or anus of another person.it’s not prostitution. A booth that included that would probably cost more than adime or a quarter. And I wouldn’t want to be the second guy in line. 🤮 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113/40 "2024-02-06T13:12:29Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > A GLBT Pride Festival circa ~1991, the local nudist group had a “Hug a Naturalist” display in the park. They were wearing a wooden barrel – I guess if you got a hug you were close enough to see down inside the barrel. Surely you mean “Hug a Naturist”. There are plenty of Naturalists who I’m sure could be persuaded to hug people for charity. But I don’t see the draw unless they’re famous naturalists. Even if they’re wearing barrels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-covid-kill-kissing-booths-at-fairs/997113.md?page=3)