Indiana State Fair

August 12, 2017





 



Indiana State Fair

One of my most favorite annual events is the Indiana State Fair, I grew up about a mile from the fairgrounds in Indianapolis and every year I would make multiple trips to the fair with friends, family and just about anyone who would go with me. It was an annual tradition throughout the time that I lived in Indianapolis and since I have lived in Key West, I have tried to find some reason to be in Indianapolis in August to get back to the fair.

Michele and Michael 





This year, I had arranged to fly out to Colorado to join Kathy, who has been there for weeks trying to oversee the construction of our new house in Colorado Springs and I just decided to check and see how much more the flights would be if I arranged for a quick one day stopover in Indianapolis and to my great delight, the price was just about the same as just a roundtrip to Colorado so I planned for a very quick stopover in Indianapolis to see the fair as well as some family and friends.





 



I flew in late on Thursday evening and on to Colorado on Saturday morning, which made for a short but fun-filled visit. I started at my sister Michele’s house, she had some free tickets to the fair because she had won the “Best of Show” prize in the sewing competition, she entered two children’s dresses and they each won the best of show Blue Ribbon of all the entries from the entire state. It is a pretty cool thing and for possibly the first time ever I was going to head to the Arts building to see the sewing competition.







I wanted to experience the fair both during the daylight hours and again during the evening when the darkness brings alive the lights of the midway. It is really two totally different experiences, both of which I really love. On the way to the fair, I made a quick stop at Twenty Tap, the beer taproom and restaurant owned by my friends Kevin and Tracy that was damaged in a fire six months ago and that they have been busy rebuilding in anticipation of reopening finally next week. One of the best pubs in the city and one of my favorite places anywhere. Kevin and Tracy were on hand and putting the finishing touches in anticipation of their reopening and I am so happy and excited for them and everyone at Twenty Tap.



Kevin 





The fair during the day is full of various competitions in the animal barns. Farmers from across the state bring their livestock to the fair to compete for the title of state champion in any number of livestock competitions, none of which I understand but which I love nonetheless. Watching these 4H farm kids proudly display their animals is really cool. I watched an entire pig competition, which I had never done before. It mostly consisted of kids, many decked out in spangled sparkly outfits keeping the hogs moving by tapping them repeatedly with a long stick. Somehow the judge determined a winner, though they all looked sort of the same to me, but as a city kid, I just do not have the sophistication to understand the ins and outs of the judging.



 



I toured the swine barn, the cow barn, the sheep barn, poultry and horse stables, enjoying the chance to get up close and personal with farm animals that I pretty much only see at the state fair. One of the cool things that I love about the fair is the diversity that is on display unlike pretty much any other place in the state with the possible exception of some of the universities. The fairgrounds is located in an urban, pretty much inner city part of Indianapolis and so urban families always attend in great numbers where they interact with the plethora of rural farm kids and their animals in a way that is truly cool to see.



 





I toured the exposition hall where a variety of businesses set up booths trying to sell you all manner of junk, then the wonderful department of Natural Resources building where huge aquariums display a wide variety of native fish and other native wild animals. I toured the beer and wine exhibit hall where Hoosier craft beers and local wines can be sampled. 

 





But the highlight of course is the amazing fair food, corndogs, elephant ears, fresh corn from the Lion’s Club booth, salt water taffy from Sutter’s and more, there is always a wonderful assortment of Hoosier delights to tempt the palate. I love it and eat way too much. And this was only the first of two visits today as I was coming back at night for more.







In between visits, I headed out to the Daredevil Brewery located in Speedway near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where my nephew Chris had recently started working. It is a huge, popular and successful brewery and it was cool to see Chris and see that he is doing pretty well since moving back to Indianapolis from New York. The beer was pretty damn good as well.

John

Chris

http://www.indianastatefair.com/state-fair/