The California State Fair is running until September 8, 2009, and with a theme like Weird, Wild and Wacky, you won’t want to miss this opportunity for a fun time with your family.
“It’s a Candy Nation!” is in building 4 and if you like candy, you will love this exhibit. There is a 22ft Rock Candy Mountain when you walk in and the whole building is all about candy. For entertainment there is a re-enactment with Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory with volunteers from the crowd, a live Jelly Belly artist working on a Grizzly Bear portrait using 10,000 Jelly Bellys and, if you are feeling brave, you can stand in line to see if the Jelly Belly guys can Beanboozle you! There is much more to look at, as well as a wide variety of candy items for purchase, and free candy will be given away while supplies last!
A friends and family favorite is the exhibition in Building 3 titled, "Wild, Wacky, and Wonderful California." If you can handle the state bear having a body piercing and a tattoo about corn dogs, then you will want to keep looking. Inside you will learn about all of the weird places there are in California that have actually become museums. Who knew that there was a whole museum of just banana items? You will learn what kind of strange items people collect, with various collections including PEZ, rubber duckies and toothbrushes on display. You can get your picture taken as Mona Lisa, Big Foot and other Wild and Wacky characters. Don’t forget to spin the Wheel of Weirdness and do something crazy before you exit.
If you are bringing your kids, there are some great deals. On Tuesdays, kids 12 and under receive free admission and rides are $1. You can go to www.bigfun.org and download a Read and Ride form for your kids. For reading three books they receive three free rides on any day that you go. On Fridays, if you are one of the first 5,000 people, you receive a pass to ride one of the Neverland Ranch amusement rides. There are many new exhibits, but there are still some of the things that are fun to do every year. Looking at the farm animals and seeing the baby pigs just born or milking a cow or goat and making your own butter, are the activities my kids talk about every year and look forward to. No matter the age of the people in your family or group, there are so many things to see and do this year at the fair. Make sure you stay until 10:00pm for the awesome fireworks show.
For more information on the California State Fair go to www.bigfun.org. They have the schedule of free concerts, free shows and all of the other Weird Wild and Wacky events.