2016 San Diego County Fair-Mad About the Fair- Part Two- It's (been) open!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of the food blog you have found.  Kirk, Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy share in the (almost daily) musings here.  Cathy just got around to writing a post for today. 

Things have been unusually busy for The Mister and myself. I apologize for not finishing this post earlier.  I wrote a Pre-Fair post, giving you some ideas of the theme, what would be happening, as well as a lot of links.

There is so much to see and do at this, the sixth (as of 2014) most attended County Fair in the USA.  I hope many of you have gone; the 1 Millionth visitor passed through the gates yesterday.

Heading straight ahead on the Midway, you will find the rides and games of chance. At the entrance, if  you go to your right, just after the Theme Exhibit building, to the "CA Grown" Exhibit Hall (the green building with a Wyland Whale painted on it), you'll find all sorts of exhibits about California agriculture, like bugs (good and bad, along with a "Bug Bar" where you can eat a bug and get a pin proclaiming such), a small animal petting farm, cow milking demonstrations and learn about California's farms (It is the number one farming state with 65% of California farms under 50 acres) and agricultural commodities (more than 400) via an interactive question and answer area as well as several guest speakers.  The livestock barns are next door.  

Going out the back door of the CA Grown exhibit, you'll see Crutchees: 
Where you can buy Dole Whip, a soft serve frozen dessert.  


If you walk in the main gate and go to your leftThe first building past the entrance is O'Brien Hall and has quite a few vendors as well as the flower specimens. 

The next building is the Bing Crosby Hall, which has aisles and aisles of vendors, selling the latest and greatest of gadgets and services.  At the back wall of Bing Crosby is this popular place to buy a snack:

 Dixie's usually has a long line of people, but we were here early. Always fresh (made in front of you as you walk along the line) and tasty!  In front of Bing Crosby Hall is our usual stop for a cream puff (shells made fresh daily, real whipped cream) and coffee (they will put real half and half in the coffee for you).

Head down the Midway, cross to the other side and find Home and Hobby 

Where the displays of contest entries of table settings, collections, multiple crafts (as well as preserved foods, baking and cake decorating) and various demonstrations take place all day.   The East end of Home and Hobby is where One Day Contests  are held (above are photos from the "Mad Hatter's Hat Contest" and "Make a Child Smile" contest).  Check out the link, follow the rules of the particular contest, fill out an entry form and you'll get into the Fair for free and maybe even win a prize or ribbon.

Head over to the Infield where "Family Funville"is located- child size rides, a farm, sunflower maze, lots of informative displays (honey bees, chickens, mushrooms, butterflies and much more!) along with Elementary School contests and displays.

Walking back out of the Infield, the "Bacon A Fair Booth, featuring a 'Porkabello Kabob' was calling. Mushrooms stuffed with Gouda cheese and wrapped in bacon the grilled. Yum! Easily shared.  

We were looking for something more 'normal' as a late lunch/early dinner and walked over to the Paddock area: which does look like a small racetrack from above.  There's a restaurant in here with a sort of 'secret' special (closer to the Fine Arts exhibit) which The Mister noticed in the free Fair Guide   which he picked up (stacked at numerous locations inside and outside the Fairgrounds).  Not mentioned on the menu, but when we ordered, the people working know about it.  The "Paddock Trio" ($10): a choice of Coors or Heineken and two sliders.  We chose the (Brandt) roast beef and the turkey, because we also ordered the large "Jimmy Durante" ($11) (corned beef),
thereby ordering each of the fresh daily roasted meats here. The meats were each excellent, as were the breads and toppings.

There's much more and you just have to jump in and try things for yourself. Get there early, get the free parking(it's nice to sit on the bus before going back to your car), check out the entertainment and enjoy!  I'll have a 'final' post after the Fair ends- Monday July 4 after the fireworks show.

2016 San Diego County Fair "Mad About The Fair" Website  

Other San Diego Food Bloggers posts about the 2016 Fair:     Kirby from Kirbie's Cravings, Mary from This Tasty Life, Soo from Hungry Ones and this, Part One, just the sights from cc Part Two, the food

 

Comments

[Caninecologne]

Great fair post Cathy! TC ate a dried beetle (lovely)... All for a button as a badge of honor, haha. The "secret special" trio at the Paddock was quite good. We had a blast at the Fair last Friday on Educators Day. The theme "Mad about the Fair" was really also really cool (Steampunk Alice in Wonderland).I enjoyed seeing the motifs incorporated in the decorated cakes, the garden decor as well as the hobbies and collections.

[Nhbilly]

I'm missing out again.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Lucky! I didn't see the Dole Whip when I went. Have you tried Dole Whip at other establishments in town? I tried it at Lapperts. I was wondering if Dole Whip taste the same everywhere like Coke...

Thanks for posting more fair stuff! I like forward to your fair and parade photos every year!

[Cathy]

Thanks, cc. The Theme exhibit is quite educational as well as fun; the combination of Alice's Adventures with Steampunk is crazy, but works. So much to see and do and it's not easy to show here; I hope people just go and see for themselves.

Oh, Billy, I can only imagine...but you know Texas has two Fairs larger than San Diego; it would be fun to see what is offered in other states (I only know about Michigan and Virginia State Fairs).

Even though I passed by it twice this year, I keep forgetting to go to Lappert's, Soo. There's also a place selling Dole Whip at Belmont Park (I would think to call it Dole Whip, it has to be a mic purchased from the company, to ensure consistency). Posting about what we do and its relation to food has some annual event overlaps {but we missed the float road test this past weekend :( }