Ohio State Fair

As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein musical sings, "Our state fair is a great state fair, don't miss it, don't even be late." Well this pretty much summed up Ben's opinion of the Ohio State Fair. I have to agree with him on the count that it didn't quite meet my expectations. Maybe we didn't get to the real fair experience because Ben's overly acute sense of smell and gag reflex prevented us from going into most of the livestock or farm-related exhibits. The above picture is of us at the petting zoo where Ben refused to walk in the woodchips or pet the animals and insisted on being carried the whole time. Andy took a picture of the belly before we left. From the stares I got, you'd have thought I was part of the walking curiosity show. I guess you don't see many 9 month pregnant women walking around state fairs these days. No joke though, they really had a "freak show" and an exhibit featuring the world's smallest woman. Our curiosity didn't get the better of us and we refrained from going in, but part of me wonders just what lurks inside those tents.

The famous butter sculptures - the highlight of the fair for me. Just a little slice of Americana. Fact: These sculptures were created with the equivalent of 7200 sticks of butter. Our friend Kevin came to the fair with us and was a great sport the whole time.

My idea of a state fair includes lots of dirt, animals, homemade foods and handicrafts. This was more of a giant carnival. Immediately upon walking in you step onto a huge concrete slab filled iwth carnival rides and food vendors. We had to walk a long time to actually get to any of the exhibit halls and even then they didn't feel very rural. Of course Ben wanted to play every game and ride all the crazy rides, but we gave him $2 and let him choose two rides. The first was a small roller coaster...

The second was this little pumpkin ferris wheel. Does anyone else harbor a deep seated (or is it seeded?) wariness of carnies?

The highlight of the fair for Ben.

Another of my favorite parts of a fair are the big marketplace exhibits where you get lots of free product samples. It's a smorgasboard of interesting products and services, some which I can't imagine people actually purchase, but apparently they do. Some classic items are the handmade belts and the stylized photos printed onto felt calendars, aprons, and whatnot. I always love to go to the jewelry cleaning booth and get my wedding ring cleaned while they hawk the tarnish remover. It really did turn out sparkling clean.

We sat down to watch a horse competition, something like barrel races. The riders start in a small square made of boards and PVC pipe, the horse shoots out and is timed as it goes around the cones and then returns to the enclosure. The participant is disqualified if the pipes or cones are knocked over. Horsemanship is much harder than it looks, we decided.

What would any fair (and particularly a Midwestern one) be without a plethora of fried foods? "Fair fare" as Andy calls it. This stand featured funnel cakes, fried dough (a.k.a. elephant ears), fried Twinkies, and fried Oreos. Other fair faves: The giant turkey leg, mega lemonade, gyros, and corn on the cob on a stick.

Kevin and Andy with their goodies. Do you have a favorite fair food?

All in all, it was fun to be outside because the weather was so beautiful and it's always fun to have an adventure. Next year we'll leave Ben behind and skip the rides to go straight to the exhibits (homemade aprons, jellies, and blue ribbons, oh my!) or just go to the county fair with its more down home feel. I heard this year there was a great bear and elephant show.