bcla
On our rugged Eastern foothills.....
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
- Messages
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I remember there have been topic about specific things with county or state fairs. Yesterday I took my kid to one for the first time in 3 years, and back then my kid was much younger.
The one we went to was the Marin County Fair, in San Rafael, California. It's not on a permanent fair site like some of the other county fairs, but set up in a large park next to the Marin County Civic Center, which is the county building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. On the actual fair site are a couple of buildings of the Marin Center, which were designed by Wright in the same style. Almost everything else is set up as temporary structures except for a few park buildings. Here's a photo from the county website:
I guess it's a typical county fair, although no horse racing and it's only 5 days. We went as a family 3 years ago and had a blast, although I took the day off from work and it was my kid's last day at preschool. This one is great because they have carnival rides, and they're included with the price of admission. The other county fair we've been to (Alameda County Fair) has lots of rides, but they require either tickets or an unlimited rides wristband that costs maybe $30 (more than admission). The Marin County Fair is also a bit mellower. I wouldn't say that all the fairgoers are upper middle class Marin County residents (I certainly am not) but it doesn't seem to have the gang problems that I've heard at other county fairs. Just yesterday there was a fight that broke out at the Alameda County Fair.
It was the usual stuff - lots of agricultural exhibits including animal demonstrations and pig races. My kid was a bit bummed about not being chosen to be a flag bearer who could also get a prize for a winning pig. I wasn't too keen on the marketplace, but they had some local agencies that weren't trying to sell anything. My kid kept on going to the sellers that had fidget spinners, and I eventually bought one because it was cheap. It also had an American flag motif, so I guess it was somewhat patriotic even if it was made in China. I didn't indulge in the fair food, but we were allowed to bring our own food in.
Although the rides were nice, it was the 4th and they were included. So the lines were just ridiculously long. I think it was something like a 40 minute wait for any of the big rides like the swings or the tilt a whirl. They had two Ferris wheels (one was really big), and we waited in line for about 15 minutes when they stopped loading and told everyone that they were shutting down until they could get it fixed. They were actually turning the wheel by hand (but using the powered brakes) to let people off, and that was a neat trick for a 70 ft tall Ferris wheel.
They also had some pretty good entertainment. I didn't go previous days when the headliners were Ann Wilson (Heart), The Fifth Dimension (or the current version), The Commodores (no Lionel Richie of course), andUB40 (the newly reformed version). Our headliner was a diverse group called The Happy Together Tour. I didn't stick around for all of it, but we did check out a group calling themselves The Archies. They featured Ron Dante, who was the lead singer on The Archies version of Sugar Sugar. That was cool because everyone seemed to know the lyrics. I'm not sure who The Turtles are, but I vaguely know who Chuck Negron is (Three Dog Night).
And finally there were fireworks at 9:30 from the lake. It was kind of strange because there's a section of the lakeshore (the upper right corner in the photo) that's not in the admission area. There were a lot of people set up there, which was considerably more crowded than the shoreline inside the fair area. They also had lots of stuff that wasn't allowed inside, like grills. On top of that, there seemed to be unlicensed vendors there, including a couple of carts selling bacon wrapped hot dogs and one selling water. Still - everyone was having a good time and almost everyone got along well. I guess the only problem was that it was kind of hot. I asked some of the volunteer SAR there if they had anyone pass out, and I was told yes since some people don't eat or don't drink enough to stay hydrated.
The one we went to was the Marin County Fair, in San Rafael, California. It's not on a permanent fair site like some of the other county fairs, but set up in a large park next to the Marin County Civic Center, which is the county building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. On the actual fair site are a couple of buildings of the Marin Center, which were designed by Wright in the same style. Almost everything else is set up as temporary structures except for a few park buildings. Here's a photo from the county website:
I guess it's a typical county fair, although no horse racing and it's only 5 days. We went as a family 3 years ago and had a blast, although I took the day off from work and it was my kid's last day at preschool. This one is great because they have carnival rides, and they're included with the price of admission. The other county fair we've been to (Alameda County Fair) has lots of rides, but they require either tickets or an unlimited rides wristband that costs maybe $30 (more than admission). The Marin County Fair is also a bit mellower. I wouldn't say that all the fairgoers are upper middle class Marin County residents (I certainly am not) but it doesn't seem to have the gang problems that I've heard at other county fairs. Just yesterday there was a fight that broke out at the Alameda County Fair.
It was the usual stuff - lots of agricultural exhibits including animal demonstrations and pig races. My kid was a bit bummed about not being chosen to be a flag bearer who could also get a prize for a winning pig. I wasn't too keen on the marketplace, but they had some local agencies that weren't trying to sell anything. My kid kept on going to the sellers that had fidget spinners, and I eventually bought one because it was cheap. It also had an American flag motif, so I guess it was somewhat patriotic even if it was made in China. I didn't indulge in the fair food, but we were allowed to bring our own food in.
Although the rides were nice, it was the 4th and they were included. So the lines were just ridiculously long. I think it was something like a 40 minute wait for any of the big rides like the swings or the tilt a whirl. They had two Ferris wheels (one was really big), and we waited in line for about 15 minutes when they stopped loading and told everyone that they were shutting down until they could get it fixed. They were actually turning the wheel by hand (but using the powered brakes) to let people off, and that was a neat trick for a 70 ft tall Ferris wheel.
They also had some pretty good entertainment. I didn't go previous days when the headliners were Ann Wilson (Heart), The Fifth Dimension (or the current version), The Commodores (no Lionel Richie of course), andUB40 (the newly reformed version). Our headliner was a diverse group called The Happy Together Tour. I didn't stick around for all of it, but we did check out a group calling themselves The Archies. They featured Ron Dante, who was the lead singer on The Archies version of Sugar Sugar. That was cool because everyone seemed to know the lyrics. I'm not sure who The Turtles are, but I vaguely know who Chuck Negron is (Three Dog Night).
And finally there were fireworks at 9:30 from the lake. It was kind of strange because there's a section of the lakeshore (the upper right corner in the photo) that's not in the admission area. There were a lot of people set up there, which was considerably more crowded than the shoreline inside the fair area. They also had lots of stuff that wasn't allowed inside, like grills. On top of that, there seemed to be unlicensed vendors there, including a couple of carts selling bacon wrapped hot dogs and one selling water. Still - everyone was having a good time and almost everyone got along well. I guess the only problem was that it was kind of hot. I asked some of the volunteer SAR there if they had anyone pass out, and I was told yes since some people don't eat or don't drink enough to stay hydrated.
