California State Fair, July 2024. This is my belated report. Maybe it’ll inspire you to attend a state or county fair. Or maybe it’ll discourage you….!
Ever since moving to Sacramento, I’ve felt lucky to live so close to the California State Fair. All fairs are fun, but a state fair is the big deal. I used to attend two or three during its run; even while in graduate school, I’d bring one of my books to read while sitting in the Farm area. (To make up for the expense, I’d bring my own picnic lunch.) I could catch a bus on my corner and then transfer to a northbound bus on 30th which, on its way to the mall, would detour right up to the fair entrance. It still does, but the bus on my corner has been eliminated. I find the walk too tiring, so when heading for the mall, or the fair, I bike to another spot on 30th where there’s a bike rack, and then catch the bus. Bicycling is so much less tiring than walking!
The passage of years brings an unhappy truth, however: namely, there is nothing like an excursion to the fair to make manifest one’s incapacitations. To some degree, these are related to aging, which is bad enough. But even more, they are related to simply not staying in shape. Some of you recall that when I reported on a visit to an old friend in Seattle, a couple of years ago, I lamented that I could not keep up with her when we walked on the college campus. She’s my age, but she walks a good deal more than I do. My vow to “get in shape” clearly didn’t last long. Both last summer and this one, I was limited in how much I could see at the fair by the pain in my legs due to unusual activity, even though I sat down to rest at every bench I saw.
This
year I went on the Friday, July 26th. On Fridays, seniors got a two dollar
discount; more importantly, the blazing heat had lessened for the weekend. Senior Day meant that there were perhaps a few
more older folks than usual, but there were also quite a large number of
families. In this photo, you see a clever cart for two little girls (among the tables in the food pavilion).
There is one inconvenience in attending the fair nowadays that I’ve had to learn to work with: one is only allowed to carry into the fair a 12” x 12” clear plastic sack. There are exceptions for diaper bags, I understand, and you can bring in food but water bottles must be empty or still sealed. I am told that this rule is customary at big concerts as well, but for me the fair is the only time I have been faced with it. For someone with a lifelong habit of not leaving the house without a big shoulder purse plus a tote bag, this presents quite a challenge. Furthermore, I have no intention of walking around all day with all my things in a transparent bag. Consider what a typical woman might have stuffed into her purse: wallet, keys, ID, comb, lipstick, sunscreen, hand lotion, pen, notebook, sunglasses (when not wearing them), personal hygiene items, cell phone (for most people; I don’t carry one, but I do carry a camera), distance glasses (in my case), and she may in addition require a tote bag (in my case, for my bike helmet and a headscarf). But dear reader, believe it or not, I cope. Into a clear bag with handles (one that you get for produce at the farmers’ market, if not the supermarket), I put all the above items (except the helmet, which I carried), AND two folded-up cloth tote bags. “Oh, you’ve got a clear plastic bag, go right in!” Feeling as though I’d gotten an A for Good Behavior as I paid and had my ticket stamped, I immediately found a bench to sit on. I put the helmet into one cloth tote bag and everything else into the other. Then, after filling my water bottle at a drinking fountain, I set out with my planned itinerary.
I walked west towards the carnival area—spookily quiet at 11 in the morning—because that way I can reach the exhibit hall area without going downhill and then up again. On this side of the buildings, one finds the September 11 Memorial Plaza. It contains an actual support beam from the North Tower, a monument to the twin towers, and a floating granite sphere containing the names of all who perished that day.
The first exhibit hall was labeled Rustic Charm Marketplace, and in fact it did contain quite charming displays of craft items. I wanted to photograph them all, but I didn’t. However, I did stop to sniff each of the 24 different scented soaps at one display. Most of the stands had no person there, so I am not sure how one would actually buy something; I believe the counter at the rear must have been the place. The next exhibit hall was Candyland, which was really just a big hall full of candy bins. At one end, there were a few cute installations where one could take a candy-themed selfie.
The third hall gets my award for Best Thing at the Fair this year, and it was a surprise as I had not read about it beforehand (the Fair website was scanty on information). It was called Wild Things, and contained….real wild animals! Well, sort of wild. These animals were ones that had been raised in captivity and in most cases had been confiscated as they were illegal pets. First there were two little otters who, alas, did not feel like showing off today, but just cuddled up together in a box full of colored balls.
Near the center of the room was a cage with two Australian kookaburra birds. One visitor imitated their call to rouse them and get a loud response. Near them were two young kangaroos, not, alas, demonstrating their hopping abilities at that time. The most startling animals—which I am sure I’ll never see up close again in my life—were two young reindeer named Holly and Tinsel. Though born in captivity, they looked restless, moving about as if wishing they were out in the wilds of Finland.
Next was the California High Speed Rail exhibit. I was interested because I had recently seen a fascinating video showing the progress made so far on this controversial project. There was a mock rail car one could walk through, and wall exhibits, plus pamphlets to take. The train will eventually go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but right now the work is being one in the central valley. Note: If a person needed to cool off while at the fair, this was the place to go--it was freezing in there!
In the Arts hall, I was fascinated by a painting of the Tardis (you know, that phone booth-looking thing that is a time machine/spacecraft on Doctor Who). It was a trompe d’oeil, which took a different form as you walked past it. Absolutely wonderful, but the painting had not won any prize. The Arts and Crafts hall was where one found the embroidery, clothes, samplers, hand-painted china, etc., and, again, where one tries to figure out why certain items win prizes and others don’t. The novelty this year at the fair was a hall devoted to cannabis—but I skipped that.
I sat to rest on a bench outside each hall, but by now my legs were aching—and it was only noon! After a side trip to the restroom—the fairgrounds restrooms always look dingy, no matter how often they are cleaned—I left the exhibit halls and walked along the row of stalls on the south side. A friend says that the last time she was at the fair, a decade or so ago, there was a booth where you could have your photo taken with parrots on your shoulder. There were no parrots this year, but I did snap a photo of the Hello Kitty booth. I have a Hello Kitty bath towel, blanket, and even a sparkly ring. I don’t want more, but I couldn’t resist photographing this trove.
Now it was time to trek over to the large buildings known poetically as A, B, C, and D. I say “trek” because it feels like one, though it is not really far. The thing is, you have to trudge up a long ramp, most of the time in the sun, and then enter the commercial exhibits and go downstairs to the part you want to see. I photographed myself halfway up the ramp, more exhausted than I look.
The ground floor of the first building used to feature county exhibits—almost every California county put up an exhibit lauding its special aspects, and you could vote for your favorite. These have disappeared, but there are agricultural and food exhibits, cooking competitions (if you are there at the right time, etc. There’s also a post office where you can find all the current stamps, as well as stamp décor. What I always look for is the Authors’ Nook, where a few local writers display their works (usually self-published). I chatted with Frank Luna. Last year I’d bought his novel Red Storm, about a station on Mars and quite enjoyed the adventure, so I bought his new book, The Community.
Out the back door of this building you see The Farm, with educational exhibits and activities, plus a fresh fruit stand. The Farm is evidently a permanent installation. An ad for it online suggests that it’s perfect for weddings, and “there is even a log cabin on site, perfect for staging or using as a bridal suite.” So keep that in mind!
I figured my legs had done just about all the work they intended, so I headed out of the building in the general direction of the food concourse. This meant strolling through the wine garden and then up a rise to Camp Smokey… and yes, there is a big statue of Smokey Bear, and yes, I got a forest ranger girl to take my photo with him. She evidently thought I was in my second childhood, as she informed me that if I waited twenty minutes, the puppet show would start. However, I did not wait….
I managed to trudge through the sun to the shaded food area, where I bought an overpriced over-heavy snack, namely California Fries (greasy fries but with avocado, for health) and then stumbled up the hill to the entrance/exit. Ahh….now I just had to wait for a bus, get off at J Street, fetch my bike, and soon I was home. It had not been a *really* hot day, but nevertheless, after a short rest I did something very unusual for me: stripped off everything and jumped into a cold shower. No soap, no shampoo—I just imagined that I was in a cool pond beneath a waterfall. Of course, the next day I couldn’t even walk on my over-used legs, but it was an excuse to lie about reading.
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