Moving from town to town beneath the glow of Ferris wheels and midway lights, a group of teenage boys spend their summer working the traveling county fair circuit. Together, they build rides, sleep in trailers, chase fleeting moments of freedom, and form bonds in a world that disappears as quickly as it arrives.
The Lost Boys of the County Fair follows these young workers across a single season on the road. As fairgrounds rise and fall around them, the boys navigate the uncertain passage between childhood and adulthood, carrying with them difficult pasts, fragile dreams, and questions about who they want to become.
Through long days of labor, late-night conversations, and endless miles between towns, the film reveals an intimate portrait of masculinity, belonging, and the search for identity inside one of America’s last nomadic communities. Set against the spectacle of the midway and the quiet loneliness beyond it, The Lost Boys of the County Fair is a coming-of-age story about boys searching for a place to belong in a world that never stands still.
Project Website: chalkoutlinesfilm.com
Instagram: instagram.com/chalk.outlines.film
Director | Tom Chalk
