State Fair Review

Mind you, my sisters and I only go to the Fair for 2-3 hours. Certainly you could spend 11 days at the Fair and still not see everything, but we simply don't have that kind of stamina or gumption. There's only so much walking, sweating and strange smells I can tolerate. So we spend a few hours cramming food down our throats and seeing our few standard favorite things. This year we were down one sister, but we still made the most of it.

What I Ate:

• Cheese Curds
• Pinacolada Smoothie
• Soft Pretzel
• Deep Fried Candy Bar
• Lemonade
• Sweet Martha's Cookies
• Unlimited Milk

We have our list of every-year-items (mine are above). We also like to add one food item each year, and this year I was going to add chocolate covered bacon. By the time we got to the booth, I was too sick to eat it. Maybe next year. Problem is that I will probably have to take something off the list of regulars to make room for new food. Not sure I'm willing to do that. Or we could stay at the Fair longer to work up an appetite, but I'm not too willing to do that either.

Things I saw:

• Bethel University Booth (free water bottle)
• 4H Building (Didn't really like how things were organized this year. At least from the part I walked through, I couldn't find a section of just quilts - the quilts were scattered around different displays in the building. I just wanted them all in one place)
• Butter-heads
• Big Pig (1200 lbs. Yuck)
• Miracle of Birth (or, as I call it, the Birthy Booth. A friend of mine was working there, so it was fun to see her and the cute little lambs born 2 hours before that she was taking care of)
• Grand Stand vendors

Again, these are our regulars. This year our new booth to visit was KFAN and it was definitely the HIGHLIGHT! First of all, the people watching was world class. The people watching at the Fair is always amazing, but I have never seen such a collection of people in one place - especially the ones who would approach the microphone to talk on the radio! Definitely some heavy drinking going on at the Fair.

The best part of KFAN was that my sister nominated me to sing on the radio. They were doing a karaoke contest for Micheal Jackson's 50th birthday (I know, can you believe he's 50?!). So after some coaxing, I sang The Way You Make Me Feel. My sister had to buy me Sweet Martha's as a bribe, but it made for a good State Fair memory, so I'm glad I did it. Pretty sure I sounded TERRIBLE since I can hardly sing to start with and the song was way too high for this alto. But oh well. It's a story to tell.

OH YEAH! I almost forgot - I also won The State Fair Game, so my sister also had to purchase my pretzel. All in all, I came out way ahead on the evening and had an enjoyable time.