Fairs Are Fun Part Deux

So Many People, So Little Patience

Who would have thought after not going to a fair in the past several years I would hit up two within a month's time. Not me, that's for damn sure. See, I'm so shocked I introduced some sailor talk into the blog.

Anyway, yesterday Mrs. K and I took a day of vacation to go to the Great Minnesota Get-Together (aka the Minnesota State Fair). I guess calling it a "Get-Together" is supposed to make you feel better when you're touching more people than a sob story on Oprah. This would be my second time going to said fair, and I'm not really sure how she convinced me to give it another go. A few years back we went and I remember it being about as fun as breaking my arm in three places combined with my sister dressing me up like a girl complete with makeup. I don't do well in crowds of people and it was not a good time had by me. But being the loving, caring husband I am, I thought I'd give it another go this year.

Unlike our county fair visit a month ago, this time I was prepared for the entry fee. This way the sticker shock happened at home instead of at the gate. It was $12 per person to get in, plus $12 for parking. We saved $2 on parking by getting a spot just outside the fairgrounds (it was jacked up to $15 by the time we left, good thing we made it in early).

What did we get for our $34? Well, parking and entry, weren't you paying attention just now? There was actually a ton of stuff to see. We looked at old tractors, cars, snowmobiles, motorcycles, atvs and lots and lots of people. I could sit and watch people all day. Not in a creepy stalker way mind you. We had some fun sitting and watching people at the giant sing-a-long. It was sort of a group karaoke. There's 40 or so microphones in front of a giant screen and everyone just let's it rip. It's hard not to have a good time watching a guy in his forties and another in his sixties belting out some Taylor Swift. Good times!

Then there's the food. What's better than twinkies? Deep fried-twinkies on a stick. Like bacon? They have it on a stick too. Basically anything you want they have deep-fried on a stick. Including fruits, candy bars, pizza, and even alligator. Although I'm not sure how fresh the alligator is since I haven't seen any around Minnesota in awhile and by awhile I mean ever. Unfortunately I can't give you much of a food review because Fat K has to be kept in-check, so there was no deep-fried stick sampling. I did however have some watermelon lemonade. Since I'm not a real big watermelon fan, surprise surprise, I'm also not a fan of watermelon lemonade. The soft pretzel we had was amazing though and the frozen yogurt wasn't bad either.

The highlight of the day was the Stihl Timbersports lumberjack show. We just happened to walk by it on the way towards the exit and noticed people starting to sit down. If you've ever seen the Timbersports series on ESPN, it was a mini entertainment version of that. Lumberjacks and lumberjills log rolling, chainsawing, 40-foot speed climbing, etc. It was a pretty entertaining hour or so. It kind of made me want to take my shirt off and split some wood, you know, man stuff.

Without the lumberjack show, I wouldn't have felt very good about our $34 spending spree plus food costs. With it I'd say it was a fairly enjoyable time. We probably could have gotten a little more for our money with some additional planning up front. Next time, we'll probably look at the schedule of events and plan out the day a little better so that we can enjoy more of the free performances that are available. Also, I think we'll stick to weekdays for our state fairing. Any more people and my day (and Mrs.K's by association) would have gone downhill in a hurry. Wait, did I just say next time? Pretend you didn't read that part.

When was the last time you went to an event with a high concentration of people? Was it worth the price of admission?