Jaylin
2/5
I visited the fair in October of 2019 and again in October of 2024. Since 2019, the quality has either stagnated or decreased while the price of everything has increased considerably. The photo of the fake security camera in our cabin on the RCS ferris wheel just about sums up the entire fair experience: looks good on the outside, but everything is as low quality as possible on the inside.
1. The food. All of the food vendors were extremely overpriced and "generous helpings" was certainly not in their vocabulary. Moreover, the food was unimpressive, generic, and rather flavorless; a massive disappointment considering a single sandwich (which was literally a meager scoop of beef spread across a soggy hotdog bun) cost $23. The fair is especially unaccommodating of people who have a lot of dietary needs/restrictions like I do.
2. The rides. Most of the rides cost $10 - $12 in tickets and many only last around 90 seconds. Fortunately, that meant the lines weren't long at all, but I saw many of the rides (especially the ones for children) running with only one or two people on them, which is rather wasteful.
3. The animals. The animal barns were cleanly and didn't smell unpleasant, but the animals themselves looked downright miserable. Most were curled up in the back corners of their cages or nosing through their woodchip bedding looking for shreds of dried out crab grass to eat. The situation was sad at best and unethical at worst.
4. The vendors. Lots of the vendors in the vendor halls (not the ones selling food) were actually really friendly, and we had some fascinating conversations, though that likely wouldn't be everyone's thing. Some of the vendors were selling extremely overpriced rings you can buy in bulk on Amazon claiming they had handmade them. Avoid those and the vendor halls can be a fun experience.
5. The shows. The quality of the shows was lacking astronomically. The "monster truck show" we saw involved watching people get into the back of a monster truck and get to do two loops at each end of the dirt track just to be unloaded and have the process repeat. The driver looked bored out of his mind, and each ride only lasted around 90 seconds.
The other shows were equally as disappointing: a juggler begging for applauds after juggling four bowling pins for around 30 seconds before dropping one, two men doing mediocre country covers, and three female singers dressed like clowns tw*rking for their vast audience of fourteen people (ten of whom were children under the age of twelve). This isn't to say there weren't better shows at other times of the day, but this was everything we encountered (we stopped to watch each act for between five and ten minutes in order to take in the full scope of the performance). All that to say, the couple I saw who managed to flip a picnic table over on themselves (causing the meager rations they had acquired for lunch to spill onto their laps and the ground) was far more amusing than the formal entertainers.
6. The games. We didn't play any of the games (they were also rather overpriced but not as bad considering some did have a winner every time). We talked to some of the people manning them, several of whom admitted they had no idea how to win the games and couldn't do it themselves, but that isn't sufficient evidence to claim they were entirely impossible.
7. The bathrooms. To end on a high note, since 2019, the bathrooms have increased in both availability and quality. In 2019, there were a lot more outhouses and fewer permanent bathrooms with running water, so this was definitely an improvement!
TL;DR: While the sights and sounds of the fair can be quite a vibe (we definitely enjoyed the view from the farris wheel and our ride on the Titan), the whole place, from the food to the rides, is extremely overpriced. You're better off to save your money and go somewhere else like Schnepf Farms' Pumpkin & Chili Party.
