The Arizona State Fair means something different to everyone who’s been there.
For me, it’s all about music, food and animals. To be specific: rock concerts, deep-fried cookie dough and goats. Lots and lots of goats.
I don’t know what I liked about the fair when I was a little kid. My only memory is of a person with an owl perched on their arm.
I doubt I went on any of the rides as a kid, except maybe the carousel. I loved carousels. But it took until high school for me to grow fond of roller coasters or anything that moved with any semblance of speed, really. And those rides that lift you a hundred feet in the air and then drop you back down? Yeah — still not for me.
Flash-forward to middle or high school and I remember going back to the fair with my family for the first time in years.
My mom and I went on the Ferris wheel, because she loves Ferris wheels. My dad and I rode an elephant together. There’s probably a picture of that somewhere. We all tried rattlesnake meat, which, honest to God, tasted like chicken but a little rubberier. Mostly I remember accidentally eating a pepper, because both the meat and peppers were breaded and I couldn’t tell the difference until it was far too late.
The past couple of years the main draw for me has been the concerts. I trend toward rock and country music, so I’ve seen The Band Perry, Korn, Trace Adkins, ZZ Top and now this year, Queens of the Stone Age.
You can’t beat free general admission to the concerts with fair admission, which is $10 most days but often a lot cheaper if you go before a certain time of day or show a specific receipt or sneeze twice while dancing in a circle down McDowell Road in front of the entrance gates. Wait, maybe not that last one, not always. That’s only on Thursdays. (You have to try it to find out if it’s real!)
Last year I went to the fair twice, both times with friends. The first group was very into going on rides and playing games on the midway, so I hung back and watched as they had their fun that way. Classic me. We rode on the Ferris wheel, too, which was nice until we realized the couple in the car/cabin/gondola/whatever you call the thing you ride in was ferociously making out.
My second time at the fair last year, though, I rediscovered the wonder that is the petting zoo. It’s probably intended for the elementary-school crowd, but my roommate and I must have spent an hour in there cooing at the different animals and patting their backs.
They usually have pigs, llamas, donkeys, ducks, chickens and wallabies, but the goats are our absolute favorites. The rambunctious little guys will climb all over you if you let them, and while you’re busy rubbing one’s forehead three others come over and start nibbling at your shirt and hair. It’s wonderful.
This year, I made the petting zoo my priority. I took a bunch of pictures of adorable goats, big and small; hugged a half-dozen llamas; cried over a line of baby pigs that looked like black and pink rolled-up tube socks; and laughed as a chicken hitched a ride on the back of a goat.
I named a few of the goats, as per my tradition, and let one climb all over me until it got a little too affectionate and made a move toward my mouth. Save it for the second date, buddy.
I could talk about goats all day long, but I should probably mention the fair’s food.
It’s often barbecued, or deep-fried or both. It’s delicious. That’s really all you need to know.
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Oh, you want to know more? Well. I’m not a big fan of food, so you probably shouldn’t trust my advice.
But my go-to guaranteed-to-win state-fair plan is to eat a food made up of cheese, meat or potatoes — or all of the above! — early on as soon as I feel hungry. This year, that was Indian fry bread with cheese on it, plus some tasty curly French fries my mom got.
Then, after the night’s concert is over, I eat a deep-fried dessert something. I’d like to say that I change it up, but ever since I tried the deep-fried cookie dough three years ago, I haven’t wanted anything else.
Imagine the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, mixed with the warmth of actually-baked cookies straight from the oven, surrounded by a nice artery-clogging shell of deep-fried … whatever. I swear by it.
I’ve tried the deep-fried Twinkies, which were largely overrated, and the deep-fried Snickers, which was tasty but couldn’t hold a candle to the magnificent cookie dough.
You better hurry if you want to go to this year’s state fair, because there’s only three days left. Three days to experience the Ferris wheels, the turkey legs, the llamas, the midway games and everything else you could possibly imagine.
Let me know if you go to the fair at McDowell Road and 19th Avenue – I’d love to hear about your Arizona State Fair memories. I’m sure I’ll be back in the petting zoo this Saturday, saying goodbye to the goats for another year and delighting in their unbridled affection.
Contact the author at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
