Oregon State Fair

I was gettin' around pretty good for a while in 2007 as I was spending some time in Oregon, hoping to fit into a new life and got invited to the State Fair. I had a great time enjoying lots of cool exhibits, food, smiles, rides, getting snubbed by llamas and even goosed by a Holstein as I tried to have my picture taken with her. Lol. The hoodrat element typical at the Pomona and sometimes Sacramento fair, was absent while we closed the day with some really great honky tonk blues dancing. Cool!

The Oregon State Fair has EVERYTHING a quality good ol' traditional all-American state fair should have. The food, the crafts, the animals, and performances are all top notch. If you don't go, you miss out! It makes me want to move to Oregon.

If you have kids and like the carnival part of the fair this review probably won't help you because I don't have kids and never go through the carnival at any fair. This year's fair (2012) was better overall I think than last year. Prices are high but parking is free. The best food is the Scones and the ice cream cones at the red barn. This year I did something new to me. I visited the art village and bought a bare piece of pottery and glazed it myself. After painting the glaze on they have people there to put it in the fire for you and you come back and hour or so later to pick it up. It was very cool. I also enjoy watching the dog shows going through the petting zoo and looking at the rabbits and horses and catching a few other shows and concerts. I almost never go into the buildings were all the big vendors are, I find it annoying. The outside vendors are much better, more local and more non-profits are outside as well. The photography salon was the only thing I was very disappointed with this year. It was so much smaller than in previous years and they didn't have as much space as they have in the past. That is something I've always enjoyed, looking at local photographer's work.