On Monday we had a lovely family visit to the California Mid-State Fair.  Going to the fair is a cherished summer tradition for me; I grew up going to the Orange County Fair and looked forward to it every year.  I love the twinkling lights, the crazy are-you-sure-that’s-safe rides, the silly carnival games, the intoxicating scent of funnel cakes wafting in the air, the oversized turkey legs, the livestock on display, and the Alaskan Pig Races.   If you haven’t seen a group of adorable piglets racing around a track, you need to get thee to the OC Fair!  Everything about the fair is nostalgic to me.  I have fond memories of riding down the Super Slide on a potato sack, or winning stuffed animals in a game of water gun shooting.  The fair stirs up memories of late nights with my friends and carefree times with family, chowing down on BBQ corn and frozen bananas, cramming into the black & white film strip photobooths.  It just isn’t summertime if I haven’t been to the fair.

Since moving up the coast, we have now enjoyed two summer trips to the big Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles.  Last year, my assistant Michelle was visiting and Olive was a teensy 4-month old!  We pushed her around in her stroller as we soaked up the fair fun.  This year, Olive was old enough to run around a bit, wave to the animals and watch the Mutton Bustin’ (little 4-7 year olds riding the backs of sheep!).  I think the overstimulation of the fair still kept Olive quite tame, however, as she remained in the stroller for most of the evening and was completely zoned out by the time we went home, an hour past her bedtime.  I can’t wait until next year, when I imagine she’ll be tall enough to ride a few of the kiddie rides and maybe even beg her Dada to win her a carnival prize.  😉

We skipped the fair food but indulged with a root beer float at the end of the night.  As we walked by to our car, the sound of John Mayer (Monday night’s featured performer) blaring over the speakers, I felt so content and grateful having started our own little summer family tradition at the fair.

Here’s a little video of some snippets from the fair — it failed uploading to Instagram but it saved to my camera roll (whew!):

Do any of you go to your local fairs each summer?  What are the highlights for you??