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Illinois State Fair open thread

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Illinois

* I’m gonna take a nap on this gorgeous Friday afternoon. Talk amongst yourselves….

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:13 pm

Comments

Catch you on the other side…

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:14 pm
Attention “Fried” food inventors;

Will you provide, say next year, deep fried cannoli?

Asking for a Friend…

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:15 pm
OK - how about this, write your name below if you ARE NOT running for Secretary of State in 2018.

This way, we’ll have a shorter list.

Comment by Grand Avenue Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:17 pm
How far would you travel to visit the State Fair? I haven’t visited in probably 40 years but have thought maybe it might be worth a trip. Opinions?

Comment by Stones Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:22 pm
Stone, you are due for a trip to the fair.

Comment by Mama Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:25 pm
Is there anything noticeably different/missing this year due to the budget impasse?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:26 pm
I see a lot of out of state license plates during the fair so some people travel far.

Comment by Mama Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:27 pm
Mama -

Because of the distance involved we would probably have to spend the night in Springfield. I only remember the Fair as a kid.

Comment by Stones Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:29 pm
We were planning on going Saturday for a ride fest. I noticed that you can’t get the one day arm bands on Saturday. I think the “miracle network” bands were replaced by the carnival bands several years ago. Guess we’re hosed…

Comment by sickntired Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:33 pm
Have any numbers on overall attendance been given out? Used to be a daily tally on the nightly news outlets.

Comment by Anon221 Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:37 pm
I’ve never been. Don’t really see a reason to ever go unless I have kids someday.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:40 pm
I was there Tuesday. Crowds were thin but the State Fair has its charms

Comment by IAFF Mike Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:43 pm
Anon221, on another thread RNUG mentioned anecdotally that attendance appears to be thin this year. You have to wonder how much of an impact the lack of a budget and uncertainty is having on getting local crowds to the fair. But I’m also wondering if there needs to be a better effort in promoting the fair through out the State, particularly in the Chicago area. It might be worth teaming up w/ Amtrak or Greyhound for visit the State Fair deals. Or having a charter bus company provide buses down from that area.

Comment by MyTwoCents Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:47 pm
===I’ve never been. Don’t really see a reason to ever go unless I have kids someday.===

I can “understand”, but there’s more going on and there’s really interesting things and the Beer Tents and Acts make a day trip or two worth it.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:51 pm
Every year I wonder why you’d put pizza on a stick. It’s already portable.

Comment by LizPhairTax Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:53 pm
== OK - how about this, write your name below if you ARE NOT running for Secretary of State in 2018.

This way, we’ll have a shorter list. ==

:-)

“After much consideration and discussing with my family, I’m here to announce my candidacy for Illinois Secretary of State in 2018. My campaign slogan will be ‘And if everyone else was jumping off a bridge…’”

“As a corollary to this announcement, I regretfully remove my name from Grand Avenue’s list on Capitol Fax.”

Comment by thunderspirit Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:54 pm
If it was really the State Fair it would be located much closer to Chicago. It’s more of a multi county central Illinois fair and thus the less-than-impressive attendance. And the other “state fair” is in an even less populated area. We should consider moving it.

Comment by Skunk Races Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:55 pm
== Is there anything noticeably different/missing this year due to the budget impasse? ==

Not sure it was due to the budget impasse, but I did notice the food court / building next to the recently renamed Corn Dog / Judy lane only had about 1/2 the normal number of food vendors.

Another thing I noticed was about zero free handouts.

Oh yeah … seemed short on attendees also during the day.

Comment by RNUG Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:00 pm
Anyone else notice that some of the restrooms didn’t have doors on the stalls. I know there is a budget shortfall, but geesh.

Comment by Northern pike Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:02 pm
Less vendors, attendance seems down (especially for kids. Most schools around here started Wednesday). A big improvement? WAY fewer golf carts!

Comment by Anon Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:03 pm
Forgot … no dedicated SMTD bus service. But it didn’t seem to matter because, as I noted in another thread, a friend with a parking lot near the main gate told me this has been the worst year ever for parking cars; they were worried about clearing enough to pay their help!

Comment by RNUG Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:04 pm
Can we draft Rich to run for Secretary of State? He could give jobs to all the regular bloggers.

Comment by Chicago Guy Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:06 pm
Lack of art in the Artisan Building. Moving the art to the 2nd floor of the Expo Building (excessive heat / no climate control) has to be one of the dumbest State Fair decisions.

Comment by RNUG Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:06 pm
I found it interesting that Rep. Cassidy couldn’t help herself from complaining about Rauner’s rather small amendatory veto to her bill making it less-illegal to smoke a drug. If I were her I would have been thankful that he didn’t veto it come rely but rather gave her a relatively easy path to making it law.

Comment by Not it Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:25 pm
I’ve been to the fair several days this year and attendance seems WAY down. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with kids being back in school - many districts started back before the fair. IMHO it would be beneficial to schedule the fair to occur before the majority of schools go into session, especially for families that might like to travel to Springfield from other parts of the state. Doesn’t seem like this would be hard to do, and it would obviously increase ticket sales.

Comment by SF15 Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:26 pm
I also found it interesting that none of the gay legislators or Equality Illinois have thanked Rauner for signing their pro-gay bills into law this week. You can bet if he had vetoed them they would have gone crazy.

Comment by Not it Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:26 pm
== He could give jobs to all the regular bloggers. ==

No thank you. Been there, done that, didn’t get a t-shirt but I can buy my own with the pension.

Comment by RNUG Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:30 pm
Went to the fair last Sunday. Attendance seemed slight. No waiting at any food vendor we tried. Ate at Ethnic Village. I make better perogis at home. Number of tattoos is way up. High dive moved to east end to make space for farm equipment. Went through the horse barns. 2,000 pound Belgians are BIG animals. Sat at a major intersection under the overhead ride with some apple vinegar fries and could not determine if it was 1978, 2002, or 2015.

Comment by zatoichi Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:48 pm
I hate the Fair. Then again, I live on the north end, so this time of the year is my private hell. Not much worse than the constant sound of helicopter rides…

I really wish the Dept. of Ag would move the Fair to mid-June. The weather is cooler and kids are just finished school (as opposed to starting school).

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:53 pm
I will refrain from my usual “the concerts suck” comment. Sammy Hagar and Fall Out Boy on back-to-back nights is a good get.

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:55 pm