Carnival rides, funnel cakes,animals,and live music. Do any of these things interest you? If so you should try and make some time to head on down to the Utah State Fair! It is located on 155 1000 W, Salt Lake City. The fair will be going on from September 6th to September 16th. The hours vary on some days but Monday through Thursday it is open from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, Friday and Saturday 10:00 am to 11:00 pm, and Sunday from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Once I did my research on the fair the more excited I became, so I grabbed my keys and began my journey to my destination. Since I decided to go on the first day I got to snag an amazing deal, which were 6 dollar tickets. Don’t worry the normal prices are just as much of one too! Adults (13+), Youth (6-12), Senior (62+) must pay 8 dollars for their tickets and children five and younger get in for free.

As I made my way into the fairgrounds various smells hit my nostrils at once, an abundance of colorful shacks caught my attention and as I was admiring my surroundings my stomach let out a grumble of hunger but I decided to ignore my stomach’s demands and continued walking forward and soon enough I found myself in an area filled with barns and a smaller building, each one filled with such intriguing creatures. I decided to stop by the first one in the area and it just happened to be filled with reptiles and amphibians. I admired each animal that was showcased very carefully, some of the animals in this exhibit included snakes, spiders, frogs, geckos, chameleons, and bearded dragons. There was a few more but I didn’t catch their names. One thing that I thought was so cool was that you were able to pet a corn snake and a baby porcupine, they were so cute! After I wrapped things up inside of there I went on to explore the rest of the animal area. In one barn there were sheep and the kind man who owned them showed everyone how he went about shaving the sheep’s wool. He had to harness the sheep’s head into some muzzle type of thing and although this looked painful for the animal he assured us that it was 100% painless for the animal and that they end up feeling much better after having their wool removed. The second barn held a woman’s prize winning pigs, everyone grew a huge interest in her biggest pig Bluto, who weighed 1,200 and may I mention he loves belly rubs and head scratches! To wrap up the animal section I went to the last two barns and took a closer look at the cows, pigeons, and bees.

By the time I had visited all the animals my stomach grumble were too much to ignore any further so I began wandering around again and a certain food shack called Piggly’s Seafood caught my eye. My eyes glazed over the menu several times before I finally decided on a meal option, I decided to go with the Lobster Fries and a strawberry lemonade to help wash it all down. Everything Piggly’s cook is completely fresh as well and a big bonus was I got to watch them make it all! If you love lobster and a bit of a kick to your meal then this is the dish for you. Once I found my seat at a bench I got to enjoy my food while also getting to listen to the live entertainment, that night the band Twisted Sister performed and I liked their performances so much, they really knew how to connect to the crowd.

Once I finished up eating I went and purchased tickets to ride some of the rides that were at the carnival. One ticket cost one dollar but each ride costs about 3 to 4 tickets so I chose my ride selection carefully. I ended up buying enough tickets to ride 2 rides and my first stop was at Pharaoh’s Fury, which was located at the entrance of the ride area. It reminded me a lot of the boat at Lagoon but I soon discovered that it was quite different, as the ride began and went higher and higher the more I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach. At times the zero gravity effect felt insane and it caused my sister and I to become fearful the first time we felt ourselves come out of the seat but I assured myself that we were securely strapped in and nothing bad was going to happen. As the ride came to a halt I had already made up my mind on what final ride I wanted to go on, I wasn’t leaving this fair without going on the tilt -a – whirl. We ended up being the only people on the ride and I was okay with that because the less the merrier, in my opinion. As we began twirling in our little balloon I couldn’t control the never ending laughter that came along with me throughout the duration of the ride. I could have easily went on that ride 3 more times.

Although this was my first time attending the Utah State Fair, it definitely won’t be my last time. During my time there I had the pleasure talking to a few people and it felt so easy to confront people because as soon as I entered I felt a sense of friendliness among everyone there. I had been wondering how many people were yearly attenders and how many people who were experiencing it for the first time just like me. “ This is my 4th year coming here and I plan on coming again and again until I can’t!” says a local Utah woman.