Because we're seasoned fairgoers, having attended the Iowa State Fair many consecutive years, I couldn't help but make comparisons during the eight hours we were there.
We watched some of the draft horse pull competition. I didn't take pictures because the arena was in shadow.
Typical for a fair was a focus on agriculture, though Florida's emphasis is on a smaller scale. This container garden included kale.
Kids around a stand were making fresh-squeezed orange juice. We never saw anyone doing this at the Iowa State Fair!
It seems that aerial rides are a state fair standard, but few people were riding.
A "big slide" must also be a state fair standard too, though no one was sliding when we looked.
We know how often political views - and candidates - appear at the Iowa State Fair. Often! This is the only booth I saw at the Florida State Fair.
What Dan and I noticed most, and commented on several times, was low attendance. It's likely more challenging for the fair to complete with all the huge, and wildly popular theme parks. The Florida State Fair is also held during school; Iowa's is in August, before school starts.
Not one customer to see the albino alligator.
Quilts, needlecrafts, photography, artistry, woodworking, aquariums, and even Lego structures (!) are displayed together in the "Florida Center," a permanent building on the grounds.
Display space was in abundance, but I didn't see even one modern quilt.
There's also a spacious demo area in the center of the building, but few demos were happening. Likely, different crafters demonstrate on different days. I'm sorry to have missed the weavers, as I am fascinated by loom weaving. Believe it or not, even with more than 1,200 club and activity groups in The Villages, I can't find one that does weaving.
I got a kick out of this "dress" on display. It's "made" of paint chips!
We listened to a couple bands that we enjoyed, and one of them - Southbound 75 - was especially good. It's too bad that only 40 or so people attended their free show. If they'd been performing somewhere else, doubtlessly they would have attracted a huge crowd.
We stayed until 7 pm or so, to wait until an I-75 Interstate traffic jam cleared. That morning, at 8:20 am, a cattle truck crashed through a guardrail near the exit to Wildwood. We were southbound that morning and we passed more than four miles of stopped northbound traffic.
At night, the ferris wheel is especially impressive. It changes colors and radiates various designs.
It's included in the book 1000 Places To See Before You Die.
Fair admission is $12 for adults, and parking ranges from $10-$15.
It's more. Bigger. Crowded. Attendance during the ten days of the fair tops 1.3 million people.
Here's one of my blog posts about the Iowa State Fair.
I read the second book in the Jessie Hunt series - The Perfect Block, by Blake Pierce.Jessie is learning how to become an expert criminal profiler who was herself victimized as a child. Between that horrible experience (watching her father murder her mother), and her soon-to-be ex-husband's attempt to kill her, she carries a lot of emotional baggage while working to enhance her profiling skills as a detective with the Los Angeles police department. She's assigned a case involving the death of a wealthy socialite, and faces personal challenges while trying to solve it.
While I enjoyed the first book, the second book didn't measure-up. The author gives Jessie an unhealthy/unrealistic dose of life challenges, while she behaves incautiously... when she is supposedly gifted with a sixth sense. Also, I still can't figure out how the title relates to the story. Jessie doesn't live on a block; she visits cells blocks. Or maybe "block" is about the subterfuge of a high-security inmate who blocks-out (arranges) Jessie's leads. Hmm.
Linda's score: 2.8/5.0
Linda
Fairs are not a big thing here in Florida. I can't remember ever going to one as a child. I've never been to the state fair when it comes to Jacksonville either. We did go every year to the Strawberry Festival when we lived in Plant City and I'm guessing that most people in the Tampa area would go there versus the State Fair. The SF is always busy when the kids are out of school and they bring big names in to entertain. Smaller community, bigger involvement, safer.
ReplyDeleteEvery year I would spend a week of my summer at the county fair when I was a kid. We often went to the state fair too. I was in 4-H, mostly doing art and crafts, and would sometimes have a project chosen to go on to the state fair. Many of my friends showed some type of livestock. It's just what you did growing up in small town Indiana.
ReplyDeleteGlad the weather was nice...if Iowa had its fair in February, attendance would be small too!! I think you went on a school day and that's why attendance was lower. Too bad there were no modern quilts at the fair.
ReplyDeleteHow curious that the state chose to hold its fair in February! I guess personally I love to attend events when the crowds are small, but it's a pity that many of the fairs are going the way of many events that used to be so looked-forward-to every year. How times have changed. Our county fair has crammed all of the 'home crafts' including textiles, quilts, photography, artwork, etc. all into one small room and some of the few quilts aren't even opened up for viewing, but just left folded on a table. So sad, there are only about 3 or 4 people from the other end of the county who even bother to enter, I would be concerned about the damage or theft that could so easily occur in that venue.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I went to the (I think) the Manatee County Fair here in Sarasota and wasn't impressed. I really don't think Stae Fairs are a Florida thing, like the Midwest.
ReplyDeleteOnce you've visited the Iowa State Fair, little else will ever measure up. Plus....where else can you find a delicious pork tenderloin????
ReplyDeleteHaving the whole place to yourselves comes to mind! I wonder if it's in decline or if it's just not an attraction to folks in a state where attractions live. In Marion County we have a Youth Fair which gets a lot of interest and support. And it's agricultural in its focus. I lived in NY and we had a healthy county and state fair system. You may be right about the school year. NYS State Fair was at the end of August just before and through Labor Day, so school had not yet started. We've been to the horse show at the Florida State Fair, but as I recall the dates were just ahead of the fair, so the food and ride vendors were not yet set up.
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