The Nebraska State Fair - 2006

We're fast approaching the Labor Day weekend, so that can only mean one thing - it's time for that deep-fried week known as The Nebraska State Fair. I can't believe it has already been a year since my last deep-fried Snickers. I've been going to the Fair for over 20 years now. It used to be a time to re-stock our supply of yardsticks. Every year, my wife and mother-in-law would both insist that we stop at the tent that had the free yardsticks. I'm not sure why. We each still had ten from the previous year. Well, can you really have too many yardsticks? And they were a nice, bright red too!

Our oldest son, John, was five months old when he made his first visit to the fair. First stop - the livestock buildings. We stepped inside the first building - the smell of the sheep and the pigs wafting through the air. He started to cry. Apparently it was a little too aromatic for him. I immediately took him back outside, away from the smell of the fresh, fragrant feces. It was my chance to escape too. I've actually tried the same tactic - crying. It never works for me. I still have to go. Two more sons, Brian and Ross, entered the picture and they too got to appreciate why we don't live on a farm.

The routine is pretty much the same from year to year. The seven of us pile into our amethyst minivan (it's not purple!) - my wife (Paula), the three boys, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law and me. On occasion, Paula's sister and family go too. Every once in a while, they find something more fun to do. (Is that possible?) We pack a dozen sodas in a cooler and make the hour or so drive to Lincoln from Bellevue. We get to the fairgrounds and my father-in-law opens one soda for all of us to share. He refuses to pay Fair prices for a soda, except for the ones you get at this one stand inside the Industrial Arts building. There, you can buy a soda and then get a refill for a reduced price. That is by far the best deal at the Fair as far as he is concerned. Even if he is at the Devaney Center when he finishes that first cup, he'll walk clear across the Fairgrounds to get that reduced price refill! I'm getting ahead of myself. Our first stop is the livestock buildings, and then the Expo building to look at all things stitched ("How did that get a blue ribbon? Look at how crooked those stitches are!") and the photography exhibit (okay - that part I like) and up the hill to see that outdoor fish tank (yep, there they are - the fish). By then we've worked up quite the appetite! As luck would have it, just past the fish tank is "Deep Fried Avenue" (apparently it's called Farm Bureau Blvd). It's also where you can buy those huge drumsticks to carry around and look like Henry the VIII. (How does one person eat one of those? I don't think I've ever been THAT hungry!) It's around this time that we lose my father-in-law. We usually don't see him again until it's time to go home. We eat; wander through the Ag building ("Ooh! Look at the size of those gourds!") and then head to the Industrial Arts building. Boy is my father-in-law in for a rude awakening. It's closed this year. He'll survive on the free water that's available.

We round out our stay by wandering through the Devaney Center. The boys and I typically head straight for the hot tubs to see what we can't afford again this year and then go outside to rest in the shade of one of the trees. We devour some piping hot funnel cake - deep-fried, powdered sugar-covered manna from heaven - while Paula and her mother meander through every aisle in the Devaney. Our patience has worn thin by this point. What's taking them so long? Of course one of us will go in to find them. After a couple of minutes, Paula and her mom come out, but we've lost the person that's gone in to chase them out. So now we wait for them. Eventually we meet up again and head back to the van, where my father-in-law will open another can of soda for us to share...on our way to the Old Country Buffet for dinner.

There are many things to enjoy at the Nebraska State Fair, as long as you can get past the smell. One of these days, THAT will be deep-fried too. There really is "no place like Nebraska."

For more information, visit the Nebraska State Fair web site at www.statefair.org. It doesn't smell.

Click on the thumbnail below to see all the wonderful things you can get on a stick at the Fair.

Copyright 2006 Dave DeVol

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