March 20th, 2024

When was the last time you visited a County Fair?  It had been a LOT of years for Tim and I.  I think that the last one was when we lived in Connecticut which means it was at least 18 years ago!  Whoa!  That's a long time!

For all I know you are all County Fair aficionados and attend them on the regular.  Maybe you are the sort of people who buy the multiday passes! Who knows, maybe you are the folks who work at the fairs!  Awesome!    We don't seem to be any of those people.

So I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we went to the Sarasota County Fair this past Sunday.  Surely, in nearly twenty years, County Fairs must be very different than what I remembered.  I mean, everything in the world has changed dramatically in two decades!  It's all so techie now.  

I have fond memories of fairs, the sounds, the scents, the ambience are all so very ripe with excitement and anticipation that nothing could possibly stand up to the nostalgia of it all, right?  I was prepared to be disappointed. 

And that didn't happen at all.   Most of it was exactly as I remembered!  How is that possible?  I do not know but I was delighted by it all.

We arrived just before the doors opened and we made a bee-line to certain areas so that I could get photos that were relatively crowd-free.  Here are a couple of black & whites just to keep the sentimental nostalgia going:

The crowds surged in behind us and that level of electric excitement and noise is essential to the atmosphere so I couldn't begrudge it.  

The next thing we did was to just walk around checking the place out.  There were plenty of rides, most of them the ones I remembered from years ago like the Tilt-a-Whirl!  That still is going strong!  Merry-Go-Round, Roller Coasters, Bumper Cars and Ferris wheels - check,check, check and check!  I did have to laugh about the one Kiddy Ride that had cars shaped like cartoon alligators.  Hah!  Only in Florida:

The Midway was huge!   The memories were all there:  of the barkers trying to get people to play the games, the sounds of the darts popping a ballon or a ball knocking over pins or the ring pinging against bottles, the big eyed kiddos trying to throw a pingpong ball in the goldfish bowl or net a plastic duck and their excitement when they "win" a prize, the fellows knocking themselves out to get a prize to give to their girl, the rows of stuffed animals of every shape size and colour dangling from the ceiling just waiting for their turn to be given away.  And of course, the bright lights and even brighter colours were everywhere!

Food?  You betcha.  The fragrances wafted throughout the fairgrounds and mingled in a way that shouldn't smell good but it so does!  Mostly bad for you foods, naturally.  I think that is key for a successful fair.  But surprisingly there were some healthy choices as well.  Loads of fried everything you can imagine too, naturally, including, gator on a stick.  Can't miss that option!

We debated quite awhile before finally making a selection or two.  Snowcone or slushie?  Soft Pretzel or Donut?  Cheese Curds or Loaded Fries?  Decisions Decisions Decision!

​We visited all of the buildings as well which means we got to see a few animals:

I was a tiny bit disappointed to learn that most of the animals had already been judged, sold and moved on out. There were just a few left but I got as much mileage out of those few as I could, I promise you!

There were also building housing crafts and hobbies that very fun to visit.  Not only to admire other people's cleverness and creativity but to talk too the hobbyists and crafters and learn more about how they do what they do!~

There were so many things I did not take photos of and now regret it, like the shell art, the quilts,  paintings and sketches,  crocheted everything, and wood crafts.  The only thing we didn't see much of, which I do recall from county fairs past were the baked goods, jams and pickles, Produce in general.  Do you remember fairs having the Largest Pumpkins or best looking Eggplants?  Yeah, I do too.  

There were multiple fun houses which I genuinely considered attempting to find my way through (but ultimately decided against) but it was great to see the lines of people waiting to find their way through the mirror mazes!  We didn't go on any of the rides either and that is mostly my fault. I get too dizzy and dizzy is not good.  But I can enjoy watching other people ride the rides!  Sometimes I opt to  live vicariously :)

There was a huge section of stuff to buy.  Everything from cowboy hats and sparkly belts to old timey wooden tops, to massage chairs, hot tubs and freeze dried candy (!!) and everything in between!  How does anyone resist?

In New England they usually have things like Tractor Pulls and some guy with a chain saw making little statues of bears out of stumps  and neither of those were present.  I admit, I kind of missed that.  But otherwise, it was so very nice to go back intime for a few hours and re-visit a genuine old County Fair.

We came home a wee bit sunburned, with a bag of old time candy (yum!) and some new memories of a good old time!

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