Fried delights and butter cows: Do's and don'ts at the Illinois State Fair

This year, the Illinois State Fair will take place Aug. 7-17 in Springfield, Ill. There will be live entertainment (Jake Owen with Jo Dee Messina, The Black Crowes, Megan Morony, Sheryl Crow and more!); food vendors galore; competitions (marching bands, float builders, baton twirlers, fiddle and banjo players, derbies and others!); a twilight parade; pickleball showdown; award-winning recipes and harness racing, to name just a few of the exciting festivities planned this year.

My husband Chuck and I went for the first time in 2018. Many years have passed and it now looks like they have a lot more to do, but back then, we weren’t so impressed…..Here’s my first-timer’s account of our visit to the Illinois State Fair…..

As a lifelong Midwesterner, I felt it my obligation and duty to attend at least one Illinois State Fair so, this year (2018), we packed up Rooney and a few shorts and T-shirts and headed downstate to Springfield.

I always love driving through this beautiful state. It's feels like  a form of meditation as you whiz past those corn and soybean fields and past the little red barns that have long ago lost their paint. I often wonder what it would be like to live in these little farm towns--no makeup, no social media, fried green tomatoes every day for dinner--but then I digress.

The Illinois State Fair has been in existence since 1853 and began as more of a display of agricultural products and equipment. Today, it's a bustling, thriving 366 acres of fun that included seemingly limitless activities, livestock, harness racing, rides, food, crafts, political pavilions and more. This year's theme, "200 Years of Amazing" celebrated the state's bicentennial.

We stayed at a place that started out with a lot of promise--The Mansion View Inn & Suites--situated right across from the Governor's Mansion. I thought, how bad could it be? Well, bad. I won't share anymore details other than to say we spent as little time as possible in the room. The Mansion, on the other hand, looked spectacular after its recent renovation--impeccably manicured grounds, daily guided tours, an imposing building overlooking, well, lots of poverty. I was very sad to see this in our state's capitol. Next to amazing, turn of the century mansions was squalor, especially as you got nearer the fairgrounds. Nonetheless, we soldiered on, anxiously anticipating our next big adventure.

Parking was nowhere--every lot was full, but we lucked out and parked only 1/2 a block from the entrance and under shade trees at that. The day was scorchingly hot, and I was so glad I didn't bring our little dog along. We would've had to turn back. I was sad to see so many dogs there with their tongues handing out.

Anyway, the midway was jam packed with every type of decadent food group you could think of--fried Twinkies and Oreos, corn dogs (which were made famous at this very fair!), fried catfish, BBQ, funnel cakes in every flavor and more. International food stations offered even more choices.

On a whim, I decided we needed to take a ride on the ski lift. It seemed like a good idea at the time since this vantage point would give you a great overview of the fair. We climbed aboard with our feet dangling before we realized we both hate heights and any rides at any fairs anywhere. Even though it didn't last long, it seemed like an eternity to us. Note to self--never again.

All throughout the ride all I could think of was what the headline would read--"Two Naive Chicagoans Ride Shaky Ski Lift Before Dropping to their Doom". Anyway, we survived so off we went to see the livestock barns. There, we saw huge horses--Percherons and Shires, each easily standing at over 7 feet high. And the line to see the 600-lb. butter cow was ridiculous, but we had to see it- not sure why. 

As the day wore on, we wore out. I'm glad we can now cross this fair off our bucket list. I suggest you do too--- and then move on.