The Big Fresno Fair

Every year at the beginning of October we get the girls out of school a little bit early and we all go the Big Fresno Fair. We really lucked out this year too, as the weather was in the mid-nineties the day before, but in the mid-eighties yesterday. It was a gorgeous afternoon and evening. We went on Smoke-free Kid's Day, which meant the kids got in free, but unfortunately it did not mean that anyone paid attention to the No Smoking signs posted all over the whole fair grounds.

We got smart this year and took photos of each of the girls at the entrance to the fair so that if anything happened and we got separated we could show pictures of exactly what they looked like. Why didn't we think of that before? Luckily we did not have to use them!

We started at the Junior Exhibits and hopefully got the girls interested in the idea of entering things into the fair. We also think we may have finally convinced Amanda about the idea of joining 4-H, as many of the projects that she saw in the fair that she said she would like to do were done by 4-H groups.

Next we went to the Kid's Zone, and they had a new exhibit in there that was SOOOO cool! It was a kaleidoscope exhibit and it had all sizes and shapes of kaleidoscopes that were made from all different types of materials. There was even a kaleidoscope with a camera inside of it so that when you stood in front of it, you became a part of the kaleidoscope. It was so much fun and it was hard to get the girls to leave so that we could see the rest of the fair.

We went into an exhibit of old cars and machinery, which is always a favorite. Interestingly enough - and this may seem like a tangent, but it will come around - CalTrans is almost done with the extension of Highway 180. In the meantime, we are being routed on a detour. The detour is long, so those of us who have been doing this periodically for the last four years, we know a different road to turn on and it cuts about a mile off the detour. As we were driving down that road on the way to the fair, Kevin mentioned that he had noticed a house on the road that had some really nice old, restored trucks that were out in the driveway. We didn't think anything more about it. When we went into the exhibit, I made it around a partition before Kevin did and I saw a truck that was absolutely gorgeous and I told Kevin to hurry around and see this truck. As Kevin went around the corner he said, "those are the trucks!", referring to the truck I pointed out and the one next to it. Two of the trucks in the fair exhibit came from the driveway of the house we passed on the detour. Cool!

We were out on the grounds when the Anhieuser Busch Clydesdale horse-drawn wagon went by. Wow! That is impressive up close! All the gear on those horses is amazing!

We then went to the family favorite, the Rocks and Minerals building. The girls LOVE this exhibit! They spun the wheel to win different types of rock prizes, went through the florescent rock exhibit, bought a $1 bag of rocks and this year we bought a small geode that was cut in half for them. (That was LOUD!!) There were all sorts of displays of different rocks and minerals. Amanda loved a diorama scene that was made out of rocks, and Katrina loved a huge crystal display. She pointed at it and said, "grass rocks!"

We went over to the HUGE play area that has a huge fort and a pirate ship and they played there for awhile. Then the went over to the gold panning area and then we went over to the Livestock building. We saw the chickens, bunnies, cows and sheep. They don't have a petting area anymore but this year they had a great interactive play area. You could saddle a big stuffed horse, dress a scarecrow, play in a corn crib, "milk" a cow, and Katrina loved riding the kid-sized tractors.

Then we headed over to the Fine Arts building to see how my photos had done. I only got one ribbon, an Honorable Mention, for the photo of Amanda jumping off the dunes at White Sands National Monument. We looked at a lot of the other photos and then we got some dinner. We always get to pick our favorite "fair" food.

Then we headed to the much anticipated midway! (Rebecca must have asked us at least twenty times when we were going to go there.) The girls went to their favorite ride where they sit in swings and then get spun way up high. We took Katrina to the merry-go-round and she was very anxious to go on it until we got on it. She started to cry and fuss and Kevin took a picture of her on the horse. The ride started and by the time we got back around and he took another photo of her, she had a smile that went from ear to ear. We got off she said she wanted to go again. We went a second time and she waved to her sisters as we went by, and I told her how brave she was to let go with one hand!

We walked back through the Commerce Building where all the vendors are and then we went into the Ag building. The Kerman display is always beautiful and this year was no exception. We bought a big cup of fruit and had a late night dessert snack. Then we made our way though another one of the Commerce Buildings and then out to the van and home. We have several family traditions that we have formed over the years and this is one that we enjoy very much!