Oh my gosh you guys, I finally went to the Puyallup Fair!

It is kind of a big deal that in my lifetime, I have never been. It’s something that every person I know from the greater Seattle area has done at least once, dating back to my grandparents. Another big deal: They have decided to start calling it “The Washington State Fair” when it has always been known as “The Puyallup.” This is to the dismay of just about everyone within a 200 mile radius of King County.

September is usually a busy month, and I guess I just never got around to it. Plus, as we know, the Fair is always expensive, crowded, and all wrapped up into a ball and deep-fried. Buuut then we went and it was pretty awesome and interesting…but my Fair quota will be filled for at least the next year or ten.

Here are some highlights…

We bought a Fair Value Pack at Fred Meyer before going. It got us admission, some food bucks, and 6 rides, which was all we really needed (except for the fact that 10 food bucks buys you about one french fry and a bite of an elephant ear). Still, better than the price of admission at the gate and 10 food dollars is better than none! Of course, this “deal” changes every year, but the Fair website is very helpful at helping you plan your trip.

The Food:

More than anything, the Puyallup Fair is famous for the Fisher Fair Scones. They have been around forever and you basically aren’t from Washington if you don’t know what they are. In a nutshell: buttery, flaky, and jam-filled. A trip to the fair isn’t complete without one. Bonus: They are a very economical fair food item and guilt free compared to most offerings. To this day, I have never made a scone “from scratch” because you can buy the Fisher Scone Mix at almost any local grocery store. True Story: Jordan didn’t even know what scones were until he started dating me.

What else can you deep fry these days? Although ever so tempting, we managed to restrain ourselves from buying this booth out. I just want plain butter on toast and noodles and everything else in this world, for the love of God why try deep frying it? Full Disclosure: If you offered to buy me some I probably would have tried it. Although it really does seem dangerous, like it would burn your mouth off?

Whoa, another new fair item I did not approve of (Jordan did it anyways). A sno cone station where you get to add your own flavors. First of all, these syrup stations were surrounded by bees, and you know every child got way more corn syrup than any person behind the counter would ever add. Lastly, we all know that Hawaiian Shave Ice is the only way to go, and there weren’t nearly as many flavors available. Tiger’s Blood? Nope. Way to crush all of my shave ice dreams from yesteryear.

For a trip to the fair, we held it together pretty well. Not too much of an overload of deep fried stuff…although I reallllly wanted an elephant ear, I always feel gross after eating one so I opted out for the first time ever. They did have deep fried rice crispy treats, which intrigued me much more than your standard twinkie, snickers, oreo, or butter…Until next time I suppose?

The Rides:

The rides are pretty standard, the memories are there but I have noticed many of the rides have updated names. Gravatron? Spider? Ring of Fire? All of those rides have different names now, it made me sad for .25 seconds. Three rides each for us was all we needed, but we paid extra for the “Extreme Scream” (which used to be called the Drop Zone, btw). It was worth it!

I freaked out when Jordan told me he had never, EVER gone down a Giant Slide (also see: Big Pink Slide). This was an outrage! How can you even be a person if you never have gone down a giant slide at the fair? It’s a rite of passage! A must-do as a child! It’s never too late though…We went with all the kiddos but I totally beat Jordan.

The Other Stuff: