The smells of fried dough and the screams of kids twirling upside down on midway rides will soon fill the air at the otherwise tranquil Saratoga County Fairgrounds in Ballston Spa.
The 166th edition of the summer milestone opens Tuesday, July 17, for a six-day extravaganza closing Sunday, July 22.
That means six days of admiring rabbits whose fur rivals cashmere, seeing owners dress up like their llamas to march around a ring, watching baby chicks hatch, learning how to shoot a balloon with a bow and arrow, brushing up on your ecology know-how, and posing for a photo next to a heifer large enough to squash you with one hoof. There will be draft and saddle horse shows, honey and maple sugar production, fine arts, home arts, culinary arts, and just about every other kind of art that makes the rest of us feel like we have two thumbs.
You can ooh and aah over prize-winning produce, cheer kids on in a spelling bee, dodge the dust during a tractor pull, and take home a tiny evergreen sapling to plant in your back yard.
Departments and shows include cattle, draft and saddle horses, goats, poultry, bees and honey, farm produce, flowers, culinary, antiques, sheep, fair pageants, education, swine, grange, and conservation.
Hungry? The fair is a gastronomical free-for-all, offering everything from freshly pulled taffy to grilled sausage and peppers to the newest phenomenon, fried Oreos and Snickers bars. Overloaded on junk food? Head to the dairy tent, where you can sip a soothing cup of cold milk for less than a dollar.
Tired of passively watching American Idol on T.V? Be part of the live audience for local singers, dancers, cloggers, magicians and kids with a startling array of abilities competing for best of fair in the talent competition. Want to see something really cute? Check out the Saratoga County Fair Baby Pageant.
Plan to stay at the fairgrounds long after dusk. Free entertainment in the historic grandstand includes a demolition derby, off-field tractor pulls, an antique tractor stone boat pull, a 4×4 truck pull, a monster truck show and the Double M Rodeo from Malta. The beer garden will rock each night with great local bands such as the Groove Syndicate, Gravity, The Electric City Horns and The Accents Band. The first-ever battle of the bands will also be held this year.
If you haven’t yet experienced the thrill of cheering on a bunch of sweaty swines chasing vanilla creme cookies, don’t miss Rosaire’s Royal Racing Pigs, located on a small grassy track near the grandstand. It’s worth the assault on the ears to watch Brian Ruth, Master of the Chainsaw, carve sculptures out of hunks of blemished hardwood. If you’re lucky, you might be able to see a farmer cook a turkey inside a (clean) aluminum trashcan.
This year’s premiere attractions include Monster Truck rides for a nominal fee, new hypnotist Tom Bresadola, and the `Live Stingray Encounter.`
As one of the earliest in the summer fair season, the event is meant to pay homage to Saratoga’s rich heritage of farming.
`Each year we work very hard to showcase the best of Saratoga County agriculture, and this year is no exception,` said Dick Rowland, general manager, who will officially move onto the fairgrounds and camp out for the week starting the night before opening day. `All we need is good weather, not too much heat or rain, and what else could we need? Nothing could be better than fair week.`
Amusements of America has been the midway provider for many years at the fair, bringing a popular kiddy area with bumper boats, spinning strawberries and hugely inflated slides. There’s a petting zoo, camel and pony rides, and the enticing carnival games where dads can toss baseballs into baskets to win teddy bears for their daughters. In the glitzy, flashy, loud loop of the midway for fairgoers long out of elementary school, you can be spun, twisted, dangled upside down, scared silly, or lost in a maze of mirrors. All rides require tickets, but hand stamps are available daily for $20 and are accepted from noon to midnight in lieu of tickets for rides.
Despite the large crowds, everyone is there with the same goal: fun in the sun.
`It’s just the place to go to have a good time,` said Village of Ballston Spa Mayor John Romano. `I can already smell the fried dough. That’s when I really know it’s summer, when the fair arrives.`
The Saratoga County Fair runs Tuesday, July 17, through Sunday, July 22, at the Saratoga County Fairground, 162 Prospect St., Ballston Spa.
The fair is open 9 a.m. to midnight daily; the midway is open from noon to midnight daily. Beer is served in the beer garden from noon to midnight, and the concessions are open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
This year’s season ticket is $25 per adult (13 and older). Parking in all the fair-managed lots is free. General admission is $7 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; admission is $10 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Children 6-12 years old are $3 every day; children under 6 are free. Wednesday is Senior Citizens Day with admission for seniors over 65 $4 until 5 p.m.
For information, visit www.saratogacountyfair.org, or call the Saratoga County Fair office at 885-9701.
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