It's that time of year again where we eat a mountain of funnel cake, ride a ferris wheel and pet a mini-goat. It's Pima County Fair time!
And while festivities have been underway since last Thursday, we (Alicia and Sam) decided to make the trek to the fairgrounds this week to check it out for ourselves.
In addition to all of your favorites, this year's event also has more over-the-top food, a new animal-encounter exhibit and rides, LOTS of rides
Here are a few highlights from our trip:
THE FOOD
Sam: I'm a fan of good ol' fair food — whether it's a bag full of cotton candy you take home to watch shrink and get stale or fried mini doughnuts you treasure to the last bite — it's a total treat.
But when I heard about some of the wacky food they were offering this year (Nitro popcorn? Fried nachos? Pickle and cheese on a stick?) my first thought was "why???"
No county fair trip is complete without a strange story, so we decided to try a fried pickle stuffed with bacon and Nutella from the Get Pickled booth.
This food was way more novelty than it was tasty, kind of like a Unicorn Frappuccino. You could really taste the bacon with some oil and pickle juice in it for good measure. Sadly, I knew the moment I bit into it I would not be taking a second bite.
Alicia and I decided to wash down the taste of bacon, pickle and Nutella with a Flamin' Hot Cheetos Pizza we found at Enzo's Pizzeria ($7). It's just a plain cheese pizza with Hot Cheetos sprinkled on top, but I wasn't mad at it. Alicia described it as the equivalent of putting chips in a sandwich. You get a satisfying crunch but none of the spicy cheeto flavor pulls through.
It was really fun to try all of these new fair foods but next time I'm getting a candy apple and calling it a day.
Alicia: Who thought it was okay to stuff a fried pickle with bacon and Nutella? It definitely never crossed my mind. I also never expected to eat it. I did.
I took a bite of this $10 pickle nonsense and could feel a single tear slide down my cheek. The bacon wasn't doing it any favors and you couldn't taste the Nutella. We took our bites and threw it away.
We moved onto the Hot Cheeto Pizza — a slice of cheese pizza with Hot Cheetos thrown on the top.
There. Is. Nothing. Special. About. This. Pizza.
It was hard taking an Insta pic of this without the Cheetos falling off the pizza.
Rides
Sam: This year's carnival boasts over 60 rides and games to choose from. Tickets prices vary on the package you decide to buy (check out the fair's website for daily promotions), but we were able to snag 40 tickets for $20.
We knew it would be pretty impossible to try every ride after eating a bunch of hybrid food, so we went for the one that required the most number of tickets, the Mach 1. It kind of looked like a large light up toothpick with some seats at either side. This ride is totally for the thrill-seeker in your life. I can't remember how many times I screamed as my body fell to earth at an intense speed. I'm v happy I survived.
Alicia: We went on one ride. It was a scary, spinny, upsy-downsy ride.
It's a 16-ticket ride with very specific height requirements. It had a maximum height requirement. 🙃
It's not like it's any different than the other 95 in the country.
We didn't die.
Everything else
Sam: My pro tip to you — check out all of the cool exhibits and livestock before going to the carnival portion of the fair. It's all free!
Alicia and I saw Cinderella's stage coach at Kiddie Kingdom, freaked out when we realized the animals at the The Bayou and Wildlife Experience were REAL, and cooed over piglets we spotted at the 4-H section.
My personal fave though has to be all of the community entries for artwork, crafts and baking at the Old Pueblo building. Only a rookie would think this section of the fair is lame.
I saw quilts as intricate as the Sistine Chapel, what I think was a table setting competition, cakes decorated to look like a scene from a circus, and a welded Slender Man. That's right internet, Slender Man is at the Pima County Fair.
There's even a large model train display set up by the Tucson Garden Railway Society. It's really cute and Alicia may have tried to walk the speed of a train at some point.
Alicia: Omg, guys! The petting zoo should be the reason you go to the Pima County Fair. Sure, the rides are cool and the food is weird but you get to pet goats and pigs and sheep and a llama. Petting them is free and feeding them is $3.
Alicia and her new BFF.
Yes, the same thought that goes through everyone's mind went through mine, I wanted to set them free.
You can also see all the animals entered for prizes. We saw little piggies and couldn't contain our squeals. Head over to the livestock barn to see them.
Look at them coming toward us.
If you go
What: Pima County Fair
Hours: Open April 20 to April 30. Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to midnight, carnival starts at 3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to midnight, carnival starts at 11 a.m.
Location: 11300 S. Houghton Rd.
How much (excluding discounts)?
• Parking is $2 (cash only).
• Admission is $8, $4 for children 6 to 10 and free for children 5 and under (cash only).
• Tickets start at $5 for 10 and can go as high $100 for 200. Rides range from three to 16 tickets. You can get a wristband for $30 and a Fast Pass for $20.
