State Fair Question

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

This is the 5th year that the Nebraska State Fair has been located in our town, Grand Island.  I've spent two of the last ten days volunteering as a "White Glove Lady" working in the Quilt Section -- "Step Away From the Quilts"  "Please Do Not Touch the Quilts"  ; )  Seriously, there are some incredibly talented quilters in this State.

We moved back to Grand Island 9 years ago a few years after my husband retired from Civil Service.  We were located at Ft Leavenworth Kansas then.  We knew that Kansas had a State Fair and my brother who lives in Iowa has visited the Iowa State fair.  I lived in Virginia when I was stationed in the Army and don't recall hearing about a State Fair then.  So here is my question -- are State Fairs basically for those states with a heavy emphasis on agriculture or do all 50 states more or less have state fairs???

Virginia

[sofadoc]

I googled the question. It looks like all states have an official state fair except Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Those states have other smaller versions.

Everything is bigger in Texas, and our state fair is no exception. Probably the largest in the country with 3 million annual visitors.

[SteveA]

The Danbury State Fair - went there 5-6 times - now it's a Mall -  we miss that fair - many good times there.
SA

[byhammerandhand]

Ohio used to have one of the largest state fairs, always flip-flopping with Texas.   I've been there almost every year for 30 years, and more than enough before that to account for the couple that I've missed.    It's slowly whittled down the number of days over the last decade.  Still has a nice fair.   

I want to plan to visit some other states in the next few years.

We've also started visiting more county fairs.   The county fair in the county next to where I grew up would probably compare well with 80% of the state fairs.

[Mike]

I loved the newengland county fairs fall weather and foliage and the sausage subs.     hhmm
not the same here just not right with warm weather  be like a fair in the summer

[sofadoc]

I'm wondering. When did the freak shows go away? You know, the bearded lady, or the 3-legged man, etc. Loved them as a kid. I haven't seen them in recent years.

My favorite "sideshow" was the beautiful girl that magically transforms into a gorilla right before your eyes, and suddenly breaks out of her cage and makes a run at the audience.

Fairs just ain't the same anymore. Now, you stand in long lines just to pay 5 bucks for a massive dose of diabetes disguised as a deep fried Twinkie.

I don't know why "thrill-seekers" do stuff like sky diving, or bungee jumping. All you have to do, is go to a county fair, and hop on a ride that was assembled by a guy with only 3 teeth. If flying around in a circle while watching all those loose/missing bolts doesn't get your adrenalin pumping, nothing will.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I don't know why "thrill-seekers" do stuff like sky diving, or bungee jumping. All you have to do, is go to a county fair, and hop on a ride that was assembled by a guy with only 3 teeth. If flying around in a circle while watching all those loose/missing bolts doesn't get your adrenalin pumping, nothing will.

No doubt, there is a small carnival that sets up in the parking lot of a local mall here around Memorial Day.  I watched the guys set up one year and you could not have paid me enough money to get on ANY of those rides.

I don't know when the freaks left as I've never been to a state fair before it relocated to Grand Island.  I don't do the midway or most of the "attractions" .  I went to the livestock barn, birthing pavilion (saw a calf born - whew) and spend most of my time wandering through the quilt isles before & after my volunteer shift.  I did see the "penguin" jumpers on Sunday while I was volunteering as their pool and diving platforms were visible from one of the windows in the quilt exhibit.  5 young adults dressed as penguins, much showmanship and flourishes and then they dive from the differing heights of the platforms into the water.  I'm told if you watch closely enough that you will see the non-divers splash the water so that the diver knows exactly where it is.  The diver also enters the water feet first and rapidly goes into a tuck so as not to break a leg.  Still was amusing to watch and especially the reactions of the small fry in the audience.

Virginia

[Mojo]

The only thing that prevents people from getting killed on these rides due to mechanical failure are the State inspectors.

I read an article about how all rides at fairs, expo's, etc. must be inspected by a State inspector at each venue. They went on to say in the article that they are pretty hard core when it comes to inspections. I do not know if this is true or not but you rarely ever hear of anyone getting killed on a carnival ride.

Still, some of the Carneys I have seen do not instill a great deal of confidence in me. The only time I ever was scared on a ride was at a huge amusement park. My daughter and I were on the cork screw when they lost the braking system. There was no way to stop us at the end of the ride or slow us down. We went through the boarding station 5 times and each time I yelled at the workers to shut off the power to the ride. Finally they did but they shut the power off as we were climbing. They had to get ladders and rescue some of the riders who got sick. One woman passed out, a couple kids got sick and spewed. It was complete chaos.

I have never been on a ride since and never will go on one.

Chris

[Joys Shop]

My husband loves state fairs
Consequently, we have been to quite a few of them.
Went to the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois fairs this year (Living in Illinois, we have been to this fair many times over the years--it used to be a great one)
Have been to the Iowa, Indiana, and Texas fairs in the past
The biggest disappointment was the Texas state fair.  The Illinois is actually the worst, but we had high expectations for the Texas fair.  We were there the year before "BigTex" burned.  I did not find the Texas fair very entertaining
The best fair has been the Iowa.
But I do have to say that the Wisconsin and Minnesota fairs were great
One issue I had with the Wisconsin fair, is that they seemed to be having a competition as to who could dress more like a "wh***".
We went to the Indiana fair the year after we saw the Iowa fair, and in comparison, it was not as good.  But it was still better than the Illinois fair

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

The best fair has been the Iowa.
But I do have to say that the Wisconsin and Minnesota fairs were great
One issue I had with the Wisconsin fair, is that they seemed to be having a competition as to who could dress more like a "wh***".

My brother who lives in Iowa swears that the Iowa State Fair is absolutely the best.  I do not know what his basis for comparison is.

I saw some pretty wh***ish dress at the Ne State Fair.  One young lady, using the term loosely, had her shorts so short that, honest to God, I saw at least 2 inches of cheek when she was standing still.  Do not want to think what it looked like when she bent over.  She looked to be high school age and so I wondered why on earth her mother let her out of the house looking like that.  God, I must be getting old.

Virginia

[sofadoc]

The biggest disappointment was the Texas state fair. 

You'll get no argument from me. I've lived less than an hour away from the SFOT all my life. I've only been to it 4 times. I wouldn't wish that fair off on my worst enemy.

Overcrowded, overpriced, and definitely overrated.

People around here will take off work for a whole week, and go to the fair every day.
For what they spend in a week at the fair, they could've gone on a REAL vacation.

"To each his own" .......I guess.

Our state fair is a great state fair
Don't miss it.......don't even be late
From dollars to doughnuts, at our state fair
It's the greatest state fair in our state

[byhammerandhand]

Steve Hartman (CBS On The Road correspondent) did a story last week about a woman who makes chocolate chip cookies at the Minnesota State Fair.  Started off as a way to make some extra cash one summer and now grosses over $2M during the run of the fair each summer.

Too far to go for a chocolate chip cookie for me, but sure made my mouth water.

So, from the collective experience, which state fairs are worth attending?

[Darren Henry]

---now grosses over $2M during the run of the fair

Not hard to believe with the prices people pay at fairs. The same chip truck that makes a very nice income down town at $3.50 for a small bucket of fries sets up at the Keystone centre for a fair or major horse show and charges $8.00 for the same order. and they're steady busy because that is a "cheap" snack.

[byhammerandhand]

One reason I didn't really enjoy my last visit to Disney World.  I hate to lose control over my decisions.

---now grosses over $2M during the run of the fair

Not hard to believe with the prices people pay at fairs. The same chip truck that makes a very nice income down town at $3.50 for a small bucket of fries sets up at the Keystone centre for a fair or major horse show and charges $8.00 for the same order. and they're steady busy because that is a "cheap" snack.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

A lot of our local restaurants have food trucks at the Fair.  I cringed when I saw what they had done to their prices.  $8.00 for a bucket of fries that was maybe $3.00 at their brick and mortar establishment. 

The only food I now buy at the Fair is the deep fried cheese sandwich (Cheese Frenchy).  They were originally made by Kings Restaurants (Nebraska chain and I think most or all have gone under by now).  Their food truck is their original store that was converted to wheels and they now call it "Toppers".  Amigos now sells the Frenchy's but they don't taste the same.  The Toppers stand does a pretty good job of recreating the original taste, although last year it didn't seem to be quite as good.  This year was up to normal standards.  They have a bunch of deep fried stuff including a pb&j which I did 3 years ago, I think it was.  The pb&j frenchy was pretty good but I was deep fried out as that was the same night I took cheese frenchy's home for supper after my stink as a white glove lady.  Have made a mental note to not have deep fried for lunch and then again for supper -- ugh!   

Virginia