The Florida Sate Fair?

[Misty89]

wondering if anyone has ever gone to the FL state fair in Tampa?
it will be going on while we are in the Orlando, wondering how it is?
( our only experiance w/ State fair is WI, and i am sure Florida is quite different )

thank you

 

[mamaminnie]

We go every year to the South Florida Fair--I'm not sure if it is the same as the one you're talking about.

It's a good fair- lots and lots of fried foods, some OK rides, some cute shows- usually an animal show, an ice skating show and some kind of car or motorcycle show, some farm animals, lots of junk for sale-- but it's not Disney World.

It's $10 or $15 to get in and then another $25 or $30 for unlimited rides. Food is expensive too.

I wouldn't waste a day (and the $$$) for it at all.

YMMV of course.

 

[deej696]

So I've lived in Florida my entire life, and I've never been to the Fair. Truth be told, I didnt even know we had one. Not sure what thats worth, but maybe it'll tell you how big a deal the fair is here in Florida. Perhaps Fairs arent a big deal here cause they cant compete with the amusment park capital of the world

 

[Vijoge]

wondering if anyone has ever gone to the FL state fair in Tampa?
it will be going on while we are in the Orlando, wondering how it is?
( our only experiance w/ State fair is WI, and i am sure Florida is quite different )

thank you

I've been to the WI State Fair, the IL State Fair (a million times) and we've recently been going to the FL State Fair. We really enjoy the FL fair and it's really not that much different from the ones in WI or IL except the weather is better. Frankly, until attending our first Florida State fair we were unaware of Florida's agricultural riches. I guess I just never thought much about farms in Florida! Too much Disney. . .

http://www.floridastatefair.com/content/view/34/45/

 

[Princess Michelle]

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[Vijoge]

I think my personal favorite part of the fair though is Cracker Country! It's this awesome "community" that is set up like an original Florida pioneer settlement would have been. Some, if not all of the buildings are authentic buildings that have been moved here from various parts of Florida. There is an old school house, a general store, a church and a few other buildings. They have demonstrations there of how people did things back then. We saw them make rope and weave chair seats the last time we went. We also listened to a woman talk about a day in the life of a pioneer woman while she cooked the old fashioned way. Cracker Country is actually it's own attraction and is open even when the fair is not but it's included in your admission when the fair is open. It doesn't stay open as late as the rest of fair though so hit it early if you end up going.

We really like Cracker Country, too.

I love the fair, we go just about every year but I'm not sure if I'd drive over from Disney for it.

We fly down from Chicago just for the fair.

 

[Princess Michelle]

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[Misty89]

thank you

i just wanted to add that we are not in FL just for Disney/we are satying in Orlando at a timeshare, and even though we are visiting MK, our trip focus is not Disney this time.
I was hoping the FL state fair would be a fun thing to stop at, we will be spending a day visting gulf of Mexico- so we wil be traveling right through Tampa where the fair is
i think by the varied responses, we will skip it.

Tina