fair weather

Undaunted by our lackluster SLCo Fair experience, we had high(-ish) hopes as we headed to the Utah State Fair on Saturday.  It's a little incongruous, having the Fairpark right in the middle of the state's capital city (155 North 1000 West), when so much of the state is ranchland and agricultural land, but it's super-convenient for us city-dwelling fairgoers. 

The first state fair was held in 1856 not long after the pioneers got out here; the current 65-acre fairgrounds were purchased in 1902.  The fairpark's buildings are beautiful, both the exhibitions halls and the livestock barns.  Although this fair is smaller than the Fryeburg Fair (my benchmark), with less than half the animals and a smaller midway, it is extremely clean and nicely laid out.  Even the carnival rides looked like they were in good shape - and the carnies were hardly sketchy looking at all.

Pretty swanky digs for sheep

Special events at this year's fair include: an evening rodeo, a travelling sea lion show, racing pigs, a 13-foot long alligator (admission extra) and numerous musical acts including Boyz II Men (free) and America (also free).  There's a nice variety of fair food too, from your standard bloomin' onions and funnel cakes, to Navajo tacos (at $10 per I did not get one) and tamales, to Hawaiian kahlua pig, to BBQ.  H went with a Moochie's Philly cheesesteak while I was SORELY disappointed with my deep-fried chocolate-covered bacon ... which turned out to be nothing more than a strip of bacon stuck on a stick and fried, and then drizzled with chocolate sauce.  The least they could have done was dunked it in batter first - that's what they were doing with the Oreo cookies and PB&J sandwiches.

The bacon is a total rip-off:

go with the Oreos or Snickers instead

Another nice feature that we discovered at the Utah State Fair was all the beer stands: you could purchase a beer - American lagers on draft or Unita Cutthroat in bottles - and walk around the fair with them.  (I think there's a beer tent at the Fryeburg Fair but you have to stay there to drink.)  The best part was that we got our beers 3-for-2: we each ordered a bottle of Cutthroat and the guy poured them into cups, then topped them off with a third bottle that he had opened inadvertently for a prior customer who wanted Hefeweizen.  Yay for us!

The sheep in UT are WAY bigger than the ME sheep

We're glad we went to the Fair.  It was a gorgeous day (80 and perfectly clear) and just right for walking around, looking at fair stuff.  I just don't think we need to do it again anytime soon - too many other things to do, like the Greek Festival, Utah Beer Fest, Snowbird's Octoberfest, the U vs. UNLV game, Alta rec center triathlon ...