Day 80-August 13, 2016-Indiana State Fair
Rain all day, but cooler, only got up to about 85.
Got up to rain, thunder and lightning. Then it stopped. And started again. Should we go to the fair or not? We figured it wouldn’t be crowded, it would be cooler, we have rain gear, and it’s only water, so we went. There’s a free shuttle that picked us up right in the campground. A nice fair, similar to the BigE in Springfield, MA, only a bit smaller. It’s set up on the perimeter of a horse race track so you just walk around a big oval. Parking seems to be in the middle of the track. The shuttle driver said they’re thinking of closing it today because of the thunder and lightning but they never did. This is the 200th year of the fair and the theme is its “BisonTennial” so there are statues of decorated bison throughout. Food, food, food and more food. Cows, horses (I love the Percherons, they know they’re beautiful), swine, goats, sheep, etc., etc., etc. The best pies, cakes, jellies, jams, quilts, etc., etc., etc. A lot of exhibits (I loved the ones made from stacked canned food and a huge lego display), demonstrations and entertainment. There was a cheerleading contest today and pole jumping along with the usual animal judging. Musical entertainment throughout the day and The Bacon Brothers tonight. I think they’re following us, they were in Temecula, CA the same time we were there. Vendors selling everything from ladders to jewelry and everything in between. And handouts and freebies and gifts. Hook’s Drug Store, which started in 1900 remains basically the way it was then, the cabinets and bottles and jars are antiques, there’s a museum in the back and they have an 1877 soda fountain where we got the biggest ice cream sundaes I’ve ever seen. That was lunch, even though they had every kind of fair food you could think of. Walked and walked ‘til our feet hurt. They had a train that went around the fair but we just walked it. Stayed most of the day. It rained off and on, sometimes really hard, but there were a lot of tents and indoor buildings so we stayed dry. Glad we decided to go, it was a really nice day. Also glad we left when we left, it poured really hard the rest of the day and all night.