Looking Back: State Fair

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This is one in a series of posts that will look back at things that happened during the Fall 2010 semester when life got too busy to post.

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We went to the State Fair in September again this year. We had perfect weather, and there were also home games for both OU and OSU that day, so it was not crowded at all. Mary Jo and Jerry came down for the weekend to enjoy the fair and the Disney On Ice show.



Although we've been twice to the fair, we had covered basically the same ground each time we had been there - arts and crafts barns and 4H and food. This year we decided to go down the other main street and see all new things. We found the petting zoo, where we found both common animals and a few new things, as well as camel and pony rides:


We went through the barns, watching a sheep judging competition, and then a little farther down we found the Clydesdale barn - WOW! We saw folks getting ready for their draft horse competitions, with all the elaborate harnesses and tack for pulling carts, and we even got to "pet" one as the owner was putting it away. It wasn't as colorful as this one, but this one stood very still for the photo:


As we walked up and down the streets with the barns, there were all sorts of attractions designed to separate us from our money. Jerry and the girls went through a giant inflatable digestive system. It was billed as "educational" but I'm not exactly sure they learned a lot. They were quite amused to find that as you "exited" the digestive system, it made a farting noise. Classy!

The girls also went down this giant inflatable slide - two slides for three dollars - made jump-n-craze seem like a bargain!


At the end of the street we ended up at the entrance to Agtropolis, which we have seen every year, but the girls were more than happy to see it again. They love getting to see the chicks hatch, and hold them, and Maggie is rabbit crazy at the moment. She keeps begging to get one, but so far we've only committed to a fish. Here's the girls with the Fairgrounds tower in the background - the ariel thing wasn't running that day for some reason.



After that we headed down the other main street, picking out our dinner as we went. I had a lamb gyro, Maggie had pizza, Gracie had a corn dog, and I can't remember what Jerry or his parents had.

At the end of the street with the food was the midway. As we watched this ride go around and around, I questioned the wisdom of eating before attempting the midway, but Jerry was game, and he and the girls managed to retain their dinner despite the dizzying speed of this ride:


After that ride it was time to head to the arena for the Disney on Ice show. This year it was the Celebrations show, and it was pretty good. I especially liked the Fantasia scene with all the brooms, although I'm doubtful that anything will ever beat the dragon from Sleeping Beauty that we saw at our first show several years back.

After that we headed back to the midway to try a "hang glider" ride that we had seen on the way that looked pretty tame. Mimi said she would try it, so we all piled on (except Jerry, who held all our stuff and took the pictures!) It was fun, and one we all agreed we would ride again:





After that it was around ten o'clock, and even though we had a full sheet of ride tickets left, Jerry had to catch a plane to California the next morning, so we headed out. The crowd was starting to get a little rowdy anyway, if you know what I mean, and if you've ever been to the fair at night, I'm sure you do. I gave our leftover tickets to a young couple counting their change in the ticket line, and we bid adieu to the Fair for 2010. I really like the Oklahoma State Fair - plenty to see and do, but not too big. We'll have to go next year and see the Sea Lion show - somehow we missed that this time!