State Fair Advice? (parking, deal, county)

[SALUKI_LOVER]

VaNc
Please tell your hubby we appreciate your fair-freakiness!

[VaNC]

He brags to people that I have a state fair map in my head. When they redid the midway a couple years ago it rocked my strange little world.

[PDXmom]

If you are new to the fair print out the map from online BEFORE you leave home. We went yesterday for the first time and did not find the booth handing out the maps until we were leaving. It was can day so it was a mad house thus we might have missed the map booth for the crowds. We parked at Carter Finley and we did not feel that the entrance to the fair etc was marked with signs very well. But now we know for next year.

We passed on most of the food (youngest has food allergies). But the Orangeade was awesome!!! Yum!

The games were pretty accomodating for the little kids. Most of the game vendors gave my kids a small toy even if they did not hit the balloon or such. The kids loved this!

We also checked out the fully electric car that they had on display. You can go 35 miles at 35 mph (seats 4 people). And it's was under 17K!! That would have been perfect for my old neighborhood!!

Oh, my daughter loved the huge Smokie the Bear across the pond from the yesteryear village. For those west coasters, it was very much like Paul & Baby the Big Blue Ox in the Redwoods. They even handed out song sheets so you could sing along to the Smokie the Bear song! Very cute and campy!

My favorite was all the farm animals painted by the Wake Co. High Schools! Does anyone know what happens to those after the Fair is over? They were very much like the Cows For Kids exhibits that have hit major metro cities. The Wake Co high schools rivaled many of the professional cow exhibits IMHO!!!

[vq1]

Took VaNC's advise and went to the fair on Friday - first time back since 1966. We (seniors of age) had a wonderful time. VaNC: Your advice as to the NCSU Ice Cream booth was lacking - You did not warn as to the vast size. We made that our first food stop at 11:00 AM. There was no line and we did not see the "actual size" before ordering. Fortunately, before ordering, we had decided to split a "cup", which in reality is a bucket of very good ice cream! No way we could/should have eaten one each. Also hit the Church row for the other food delights and your recommended cotton candy.

Enjoyed Smithfield "the painting pig", and especially the "rain delayed" pig races (a round each of four piglets, ducks, goats and pot-bellied pigs.)

The blacksmithing demonstration made us realize how easy we have it with today's modern conveniences.

Highly suggest that anybody going on Sunday, or next year, to heed your recommendations!

[zthatzmanz28]

Since this is our FIRST state fair trip, we thought the suggestions here were great. We are looking forward to several trips to the fair this year!!

[frankpc]

You can also save a fair (pun?) bit of money buying your tickets in advance. Its also a good way to manage how much you spend on ride tickets ....

Frank

[kelly237]

Have a few "traditions " for the kids to remember and take pictures of those each year. It is so much fun in the photo album to see
the kids eating the corn each year as they grow....

Plan a special something to end on everyyear. We always got fried dough on the way to the car..

We race each other on the sack rides down the long slides every year.

The traditions I did as a kid are now the same things that
are "must do's" each year with my kids.

[aldamon]

We usually don't do rides, but might do a few this year. Could my wife and I ride 2-3 rides with the 18 tickets/$10?

[frankpc]

Originally Posted by aldamon

We usually don't do rides, but might do a few this year. Could my wife and I ride 2-3 rides with the 18 tickets/$10?

It depends have brave you are

Rides are typically four or five tickets per ride although they range up to six. So you could each ride a five and a four ticket ride for a book of 18.

Frank

[Jenny_B]

Sometimes it's great when an old thread is revived... I'm so glad I saw this and will print out some of the suggestions (especially from VanNC!).

My company offers the discounted tickets (admission $4.75 and sheet of 18 ride tickets for $10), so I'm debating now on how many rides I can handle. When I was a kid/teenager I was a total glutton for punishment, riding every scary ride they had, over and over.

I'm not so sure I can handle that any more and I don't remember it being so expensive either! Maybe my parents were really generous... I remember them giving me about $10 for ride money and I could basically ride as much as I wanted to for that amount.