Going to a state fair in 2022 compared to the '90s

State Fair

I went to a state fair recently, and it's interesting what I care about at the fair now as a middle aged man compared to when I was a teen.

Many moons ago in the '80 and '90s when I was living in the northeast, there were two local town fairs that happened every year. The smaller one I only attended a handful of times, but the larger one I went to almost every year for a long while.

Did I ever want to go to the fair? No. Never cared for it. The only reason I ever went is because my family had some involvement with it. Dad helped run a particular technology booth (a tech type I wasn't into at all,) and another family member was involved with horse riding.

In my child years I had to go because there wasn't another option. No matter how much I said I didn't want to go to the stupid fair, the standing rule was, "You're going. Get in the car." I assume this was because it was easier to take me and listen to me complain instead of getting a sitter.

Later on in my teens, I got louder about not wanting to go, and at long last I was finally allowed to stay home and watch television like I wanted to do in the first place. Loved it.

I'll get to my '22 experience in a moment, but first, the reasons I hated the fair.

Reason #1: Weather. There were only two types of weather at the fair every year. Nasty humid hot, or depressing drizzly rain, as in the kind of rain that's not enough to carry an umbrella, but just enough to wet your clothes and make you cold and miserable.

Reason #2: Dirt everywhere. Fairs are (or at least they're supposed to be) agricultural events, and that means dirt. It doesn't matter if you're walking on pavement or grass because there a giant amount of dirt flying around everywhere. Combined with the dirt in the air is oil from all the food vendors. All the food people are cooking like crazy and there's vegetable oil in the air all over the place. The end result of this is you get covered with a layer of dirt and grease.

Reason #3: Everything at the fair is expensive. All the food is four times more expensive compared to anywhere else, and no better than what you would get out of a convenience store. And bottled water? Oh, they know you want it, and you're gonna pay and pay big. For any type of item that you buy, you then have to carry it the entire time you're there, because of course the fair doesn't have locker rentals and it takes too long to walk back to the car to store the crap you bought.

Reason #4: You get bored quick. This was my main reason for not wanting to go to the fair in the first place in my younger years. I had no money, so I couldn't buy anything. My family was off doing fair stuff that I didn't care about at all. I'd end up either doing one of two things while there. Walk a lap until the sun or the rain beat me into submission, then walk back to where my family was and just sit there for hours on end because I had absolutely nothing to do. I sat there, either sweating while covered in dirt and grease, or shivering from the rain. And remember, no smartphone because this was the '80s and '90s.

Fast-forward to 2022.

I was invited to go to a state fair.

My first reaction: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But then I thought okay... okay. I'm older and wiser now, and maybe it won't be as bad.

I went to the fair, and this was my experience from it.

Weather: Turned out to be the too-hot/humid type, and got a nice ripe sunburn from that.

Dirt/grease in the air: Same as it ever was.

Price of things: Same as it ever was.

Did I get bored quick?

This is where I changed things up a bit.

What I decided to do is something I never bothered with at previous fairs I went to.

I went to see the animals.