Sort of at the last minute, we decided to take a half-day off yesterday (Friday) and go to the California State Fair, which runs 18 days, ending Monday. After the Nevada County Fair last month, we thought perhaps we wouldn't bother with Sacramento this year. It's big, but kinda generic, and can be hot. But, in the end, I couldn't let it go by.And we're so glad we didn't!
The temp was only in the mid-eighties when we arrived around 3:30 (a cold snap for Sacto in the summer), and it was on the wane, anyway. Then came our first real bright spot: A magnanimous couple about our age stopped us a few yards from the entrance and asked us if we wanted their extra tickets. For free. Well, we offered to pay them, of course, having not been raised in a barn, but they wouldn't hear of it, due, undoubtedly, to their not having been raised in a barn. $24 to the good, right off the bat!
Next, as we walked through the turnstiles, Tom noticed the sign for the night's entertainment. THREE DOG NIGHT!! We'd hit the jackpot, as we learned later by perusing the musical acts for the 17 other nights! We LOVE Three Dog Night! We've always loved Three Dog Night! Turns out, they've been touring consistently since '81, doing the retro circuit (their heyday was '69-'75). Well, that was something to look forward to!
That left us a few hours to do the exhibits and food. Sweet!
The main exhibit area consists of a compound of eight buildings, each with a theme (fine arts, agriculture, etc.). Our favorites this year were fine arts and parts of the "Candy Nation" exhibit. We loved the gorgeous antique See's Candy vehicles. They were the real ones used in the early 20th century and were painted in the traditional black and white and perfect.
I was really more interested in free Jelly Bellies, though, rather than looking at the JB portraits of persons such as Arnold and Marilyn, so, finding none (?!) we didn't stay long there. Amongst the crazy collections in the "Weird, Wild and Wacky" building was the Pez dispenser display. This person had collected one EACH of the more than 550 Pez dispensers ever made, even one with a soft-head Mickey Mouse top, never offered to the public for sale, and which sold for $7000 recently. Seriously fun to look at (mag in on the pic)! In the "craftsmanship" building (forget the real name), there was an amazing array of wooden electric guitars, carved from all sorts of beautiful woods (including burlwood with holes in it) into fanciful shapes, yet all looking like guitars. Missing some in the photo. So impressive!
While perhaps not art in the classic sense, our favorite piece (and everybody's, judging by the crowds) in the arts building was the Toothpick San Francisco. Honestly. I couldn't possibly capture it in a photo (mag in, though, so you can see better). It actually made the news. There was a full-time docent in front of it explaining the features. Not only is it an 8'+ sculpture of a jumbled-up San Francisco, complete with bridges, China Town, Painted Ladies, Fisherman's Wharf, and 100s of other landmarks, but there are several places high up that, when one places ping pong balls there, each will follow one of several lengthy and intricate pathways through the sculpture down to the bottom. Unbelievable. Here's the kicker: besides its being made of more than 100,000 toothpicks, it took around 35 years to build. Yeah, that's right. I wanted to stare at it for an hour. Guess who didn't...
Then it was off to the government/commercial pavilions where Nevada County's exhibit played "elementary school playground", say, to Solano County's "Disneyland". Again. Ours=a few posters, bikes and a brochure; theirs=all fruit-shaped, walk-through enclosures with music, gardens, animatronics and special effects lighting. They do have a Jelly Belly factory there. Of course, we don't need no ostentatious displays of our assets, do we? Apparently not.
The food. Why do I never learn? I get the first thing that looks good, when, the year before, I've always said to myself, "self, look at more options, first". What we got was fine--fish tacos with fried zucchini for me and fish and chips for Tom (at least it wasn't his choice of last year: deep-fried White Castle burger). Fair classics. But farther along, I saw the artichoke sandwiches and Thai food. Oh, well. Then, because there's no one standing nearby saying we can't, we get a big bag-full of fudge from the place that sells at least 300 kinds. Maybe less. But this time, we got the chocolate/peanut butter (how could we not?) and the vanilla pecan praline, a lovely new kind. Then we eat it til we're sick or it's gone, which usually happens about the same time.
But the best of all, yesterday, was Three Dog Night! We found a place to stand on the outskirts, behind a waist-high metal barrier, near front stage right. The "inskirts" would be the paid reserve seats ($15 each) in front of the barrier, most of whom were farther away from the stage than we were. So cool. And sitting is overrated when you want to dance around to the music (sorry for the mental image this may conjure)! The band looked older (40 years since their first of so many hits--yipes!), but still rocked! I love it when geezers are still way cool! For an hour twenty, they played mostly old stuff (I was so singing along!), but some great new stuff, too! "Joy to the World was the climactic song, of course! Loved it!
Then we went home feelin' groovy.
