We had so much fun this week at the Ohio State Fair, and I thought you all might enjoy a peek! We haven’t gone to a state fair since living in Kentucky almost ten years ago, so it was fun to check out the food, rides, and (my favorite!) the exhibits. (I’m telling you what, next year I’m coming up with a recipe to enter in the fair – my family’s already debating what they want me to bake so that at least once a month for the next year they get to test it!)

I will tell you that the fair is far from penny pinched. If you have little ones, try to steer far from the rides (which is tough to do!), because just the exhibits are neat to see and don’t cost anything more than the fair’s admission. (We found discounted tickets at our local Kroger store.) We ended up purchasing $45 in ride tickets which was more than enough for my kids (thankfully they’re not big riders), and I kind of wish we encouraged them to just pick a ride or two, because they really would have been content with that.

My husband and I have always loved visiting the fair for the people-watching, to see what kind of ridiculous food’s being concocted, and I love checking out the cake competitions and handwork items. It’s just fun to see what people can do!  Okie dokie . . . here’s what we saw ~ on what had to be the prettiest night I’ve ever seen in July.

 Tried out Fried Buckeyes – they were so good! Fried Grilled Cheese . . . um, not so good

Noticed the Sloppy Donuts ~  yikes

My Reagan who’s always been fascinated by pigs (hence the pig overalls her Uncle Jack got for her) got to see her first piggies up close and personal. 

After petting this one, she said “They’re so sort ~ that makes me love piggies even more!”

 Then we saw this monster boar~ at 1440 pounds, it was not what we think of when Reagan says she loves piggies!

We also checked out a few pigs and bunnies (and made those goofy faces for some reason?)

Saw huge tractors . . .

and a few little ones too.

Checked out some fantastic train sets, 

milked Buckeye Bessie,

 and loved seeing the cookies, cakes and mode towns on display.

My son is convinced I’m making him that cake next year for his birthday (I promise to post pics when I do . . . )

 And I loved looking at the quilts and handiwork on display.

All in all it was a fun but-not-so-penny-pinched afternoon, and we loved seeing all Ohio has to offer! Hope you’ve been able to do something extra fun this week with your family too.