big fresno fair monday

tomorrow is the last day of the fair, and we're headed to it. you're welcome to join us after work for some viewing of animals, plants, etc. we'll also be eating some fair grub, and hopefully riding the swings.

sadly, we won't be visiting corin hoggard @ the channel 30 booth, his shift has been moved up to 12-3 or something like that.

fresno fair trip

quick question for fresno folks:
would you rather go to the fair on friday evening, or next monday evening?

friday - well, it's the weekend, so you don't gots nothing to do the next day. but, it's the weekend, so it'll be jam packed.

monday - well, it's monday so you have to probably go to work the next day. but, the crowds might be smaller, and it's corin hoggard day over @ the channel 30 booth so we can bother him w/signs demanding 'corin dogs' or whatever else.

thoughts?

earth, wind and fire at the big fresno fair

so, tonight we went to the big fresno fair to enjoy some sites, sounds and grub. and, we were able to get into the fair and the show for free, complements of the beehive.com.

we got there early-ish and checked out the animals. baby pigs = cute, pig crap = terrible smelling. move away quickly. after wandering around in the barn yard, it was time to head out for some food.

now, i'm almost always going to get a corn dog @ the fair. but, i was also planning on going to the fair more than once this year due to the free entrance tonight. so, the dilemma, do i eat a corn dog tonight, next time, or both? well, i decided to split the indian fry bread w/beans & cheese & some sweet potato fries. sadly, neither of these were that good. so, i didn't finish what i was splitting and went after the old standby corn dog. it was decent. i'm recommending the corn dog stand to the west of chicken charlie's.

to the show. when we sauntered into the paul paul theater an opening act was on stage. they were named strong mecca and were pretty cool. they had a bit of a p-funk feel, and were pretty nice. here's them on stage:



after strong mecca, there was a short break before the big show, earth, wind & fire. here's the stage getting set up:



and the band during the show:



you know, when a band has been around longer than you've been alive, it's probably going to be an older crowd. but who cares, i wasn't there to see them, i was there for earth, wind & fire. but, before i move onto the show, i do want to mention there was a high percentage of cougars and wannabe cougars in the crowd.

so, earth, wind & fire was fantastic. there one of those bands that you don't really realize how many of their songs you know. i admit, i don't own any of their albums, and yet i still knew a ton of the songs and had a blast. musically, these guys are very tight. well practiced, energetic, and you can tell they're having a blast as well. vocally, i can't believe how good and strong their voices are. really, these guys are better now than akon, t-pain or whoever the crap is out there now. and, they do it live and without any sort electronic aids.

when it was all said and done, they had played everything i wanted to hear, and we had a great time. thanks beehive.com.

one last thing, a picture of a funny cactus:

Fresno Fair Review

so, we went to the fair friday night. good times we had by many.

we arrived and saw the animals. i think we normally hit the fair during the second week so it seems like there are more animals.

after washing our hands, we decided to eat a bit. i think 4/5s of our group had a corndog. but, we didn't all buy them from the same stand. and, some of the corndogs purchased @ the same stand were cold. but mine was nice and piping hot. i only bought a small corndog because i knew i would be eating much more fair food.

brian went over to the bbq joint and bought himself a turkey leg. if you remember, i had one last year. it was enjoyable. but brian's looked like it had been left on the smoker far too long. and, it was all dried out (he said). me, after the corndog, i hit up the bbq joint for a pulled pork sandwich. very good.

after eating, we strolled down to the art exhibit. i was pretty disappointed. there were a handful of good pieces, but overall it seemed pretty weak. i've definitely seen better art hops. we were curious to also see what furniture had been entered. let's just say that adam's work would easily leave the submitted pieces in the dust. not even close competition.

after viewing the art show, we knew we had 30 minutes until the pig races. we walked back to that side of the fairgrounds, and figured we would hit the student art show because it was right next store and we had time. so glad we did. honestly, i was much more impressed with the student art. and, we saw an amazing table done by a junior high student. maybe that student can teach the adults about wood work.

and then it was off to the pig races. there were 3 races (2 semis and a final). i'm only posting the video of the final, but if you want to see them all, along with a warm up watch more of my youtube vids.



after i failed to pick any of the winners, we headed off to the midway. i was so glad that the swing ride was open (last year it wasn't). i love the swings. i'm always a bit terrified that i'm going to somehow die on this ride. but, the feeling of floating through the air is worth it. here's 3 minutes of our flight.



if you're watching closely, at the very start of the video you can see adam cross himself. calling out to God before riding the swing, eh?

mike and kasey didn't want to ride the swings, so after we all went over and did the ferris wheel. here's two clips of it.





so to review:
animals - all right. could use a few more. check out the pygmy goats.
food - some good. make sure you get a hot corndog, and meat that hasn't been on the grill too long.
adult art show - meh.
student art show - very good
rides - good. at least the two i rode were fun.

fresno fair 2007

it's that time of year again. it's colder in the evenings, the days are getting shorter, and the big fresno fair has begun.

it looks like a group trip will happen friday evening, if you want to come along.

@ the fair, i'm tentatively planning to:
eat a corn dog
see the pig races
begrudgingly look at other animals
see the art show
ride the flying swing ride!


don't know if we'll see a repeat of this

national attention for the fresno fair

one of my favorite catalog sites, boing boing, had a link to a story about the big fresno fair! that's right, the home of adam's hummer love made it onto a huge website read by millions. granted, it wasn't about adam, or his hummer hump, but still. booya, fresno! although, i should point out that the story is more about copyright and law, and not about fresno, or the fair.



(i'm also posting this to my fresno famous blog)