Illinois State Fair

The year is 2011 and I am 31 years old and this was my first time at the State Fair! I have teased my parent's for years about never being taken to the fair as a child. This year my Dad took the day off work and Mom and Dad took me and the kids.

I failed to remember to take a picture of the family at the beginning of the day, you know when we were looking fresh as daisies! Instead I took the picture at the very end when it was 97 degrees and we were all feeling a little faded!


I was very impressed by the size of the fair and the fairgrounds. The animal barns are huge. We walked through a lot of them...horses, cows, pigs, sheep. Dad only had to explain a couple of animal parts that Elizabeth was inquiring about! Dad even ran into a man showing cattle from Dalton City that used to work with my Grandpa Heller. When I saw the beds and cots scattered around the animal pins I whispered to my Mom, "This is a whole other world isn't it?!" A world that I can't really relate to, but certainly appreciate how hard they work.

For years I have heard about the famous Butter Cow. I can now say that I have seen the Butter Cow! I took a picture of the facts instead of trying to remember them all. 800 pounds of sculpted butter is pretty impressive.


Elizabeth got to ride a pony, Poncho. Poncho was a rather large pony, but she loved it! She also petted a piglet that was only 5 days old. I got to milk a cow. Dad got his corn dog and Mom and I got the best frozen lemonade I have ever had. We got a box of taffy, which was being made on site. I didn't know they actually made the taffy at the fair!

Elizabeth rode the Super Slide twice, once with Pops and once with me. She warned me as we walked up the stairs, "it's pretty fast mommy!" She also got her face painted (a dog) and got to crawl into a mini excavator (not Caterpillar though!). Grant was pretty content in the stroller taking in all the sights. We watched the horse showing for about an hour and a little bit of the high diving act. We walked through the Midway, where Dad really wanted to win Elizabeth a giant stuffed animal. I told him if he won it it had to go home with him! He kept walking!

There is a lot of history behind state fairs that I can't begin to appreciate. I know that they when my parent's were growing up they were a very big deal and often the event of the summer. Today I think a lot of people just view them as food and rides, but it really is about a lot more. Of course we enjoy the food though! I did pass on the deep fried brownies, but I was very tempted!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great day at the fair!