A Day at the NYS Fair

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For the past week or so, we have been seeing ads and live newscasts from the New York State Fair in Syracuse and thought it might be a fun day trip. We vaguely remember attending it once but that was likely over 20 years ago. There are different events and shows each day, so we kept an eye out for a day with some fun sounding show as well as a day with a good weather forecast. The last day of August ended up being our pick. We headed out early to get into the fairgrounds shortly after they opened. It turned out to be a rather popular day and we were there with more than 78,000 others on that day. Since the fairgrounds covers a very large area, it didn’t seem exceptionally crowded most of the time. We had picked out what shows we wanted to see as well as when and where they were so we had a better chance of seeing them. The main grounds are nearly 3/4 mile wide, so there will be lots of walking involved.

Our first stop was at the Exposition Center to check out the Dinosaur Exhibit. There was a pretty long line to enter when the doors opened at 10 AM. A local news show was airing a live broadcast from in front of the building so we had something to watch while the line slowly filed in.

Line to Enter Exposition Center

This is a big building and inside we’re a couple dozen life sized animatronic dinosaurs. The lighting was rather subdued so getting good pictures was a little challenging. Plus with so many people milling around, there always seemed to be somebody in the way. The displays were very well done and it was much more entertaining to see the dinosaurs move rather than being stationary like you might see in other displays.

Chris Poses with Dinosaur

A Feathered Dinosaur

T-Rex

Rock and Roll Dinosaurs

Our next show wasn’t until 11:30 so we had some time to stroll through the numerous buildings. There were many interesting displays from woodworking to quilting and knitting as well as some unusual things like a collection of old milk bottles.

Woodworkers of Central NY

Milk Bottle Collection

Being a state fair, there are lots of buildings dedicated to various farm animals. With Chris’ affinity for goats, we obviously needed to stroll through the goat, swine and llama building. While the llama seemed to be missing, there were plenty of goats. Many of them were being fed their morning meal of hay. For some reason many of the goats found the hay in the adjacent pen to be more tasty than what was in their own stall.

Oink Oink

Goats Reaching Over Wall for Food

Cute Little Goat

Playing Outside

Another building showcased rabbits and poultry. Some of these animals had already been through their competition and the ribbons and medals were on full display. I found the poultry to be rather interesting. There were lots of rather unusual looking chickens and the pigeon with curls was quite unexpected.

Rabbit

Duck Under Heat Lamp

Cock-a-doodle-do

Colorful Chicken

Unusual Pigeon

Our first entertainer was dubbed Hilby the Skinny German Jungle Boy. An odd name for what turned out to be a very humorous and skilled performer. He had a very large crowd of people circling him outside the poultry barn. He definitely knew how to work the crowd and had many audience members come out to help him with his act whether it was to mount his unicycle or toss him items to juggle while riding the unicycle. And while he had a good amount of comedy that was part of his show, I think it was his improvisational skills in dealing with audience reactions that was his best part of his act.

Hilby on His Unicycle

We had another hour to spend before our next show. There is definitely no lack of food vendors at the fair. We tried to find something that was less unhealthy than most of the options and had a quick lunch before heading into the cattle barn. We all see lots of cows in the field while driving through the countryside but it isn’t until you are within a few feet of them that you get an idea of how big these guys can get.

Old Milk Wagon

Cow Says Moo

We head to the Coliseum for one of the shows that helped us pick which day we came to the fair - the draft horse show six-horse hitch competition. This show features 6 Percheron horses pulling a large wagon with a two person crew. The building is big with room for an audience of over 3000. The dirt area is 210 by 104 feet with large entrances on either end of the buildings for the horse teams to enter. Our event features 8 teams competing for the $2500 prize. Several teams are brought into the arena at a time.

HD Rapids Percherons

Red Oak Farms

Percheron are big animals. Standing about 5.5 feet at the top of the shoulder and weighing in at around 2500 pounds - these are impressive and powerful looking horses. They are also ornately decorated with fancy harnesses and their manes and tails adorned with all sorts of shiny gear.

Close-up of Percheron Team

Pine Hollow Dairy

Wilson Farms

There is one person in the ring - possibly the judge - that directs the teams to circle the ring and even do a figure 8 within the relatively small confines of the area before lining up side by side with other teams. At that point the extra person on the wagon jumps down and heads to the lead horses to keep them calm. One of the moves each team needs to make is to back up 10 feet or so and then pull forward again. This must be a nerve wracking experience since the wagons really don’t have any steering capability so they tend to jackknife as they move back.

Teams Line Up

Windermere Farms

CNY Event Ranch

Most of the teams are driven by a burly looking guy that is is wearing the obligatory cowboy hat or a more formal suit and top hat. But one of the teams was driven by two young girls that looked to be under 16 years old. It was impressive to see how such small girls were able to control such big beasts. After the initial rounds of judging, all eight teams were brought back in and lined up for the award ceremony. Obviously we have no idea what criteria is used for the judging of such an event. Whether it is based solely on the teams of horses or how fancy and polished the chrome paint job of the wagon. As each team was awarded its prize, it came around and picked up the ribbon or medal before heading back out of the arena. It was a very entertaining 90 minutes.

Eight Teams Line Up For Awards Ceremony

Winner - Trippcrest Farm

Our next planned show wasn’t for another 45 minutes so we head into the Dairy Products Building. This is where the annual butter sculpture is on display. There were also lots of milk and ice cream treats to be had. A couple of cones helped tide us over until we head into see the magic show by Steve Trash. This guy puts on a show that is mainly centered on recycling and conservation. It was a bit odd but entertaining.

Butter Sculpture

Magician Steve Trash

Our next show was the Birds of Prey show. We made it to the area of the show early enough to snag a seat on the bleachers which definitely helped with us being able to see the show. The show features various birds that have either been injured or orphaned and are being rehabilitated by the Hawk Creek Wildlife Center. They have a large variety of birds of prey, but they don’t just bring them out and walk them around the crowd. Instead they get members of the audience to participate with various flying demonstrations. It started out with a hawk flying right over out heads as it headed to the trainer and a very surprised audience member.

Hawk Flies In

Hawk

A falcon, owl, turkey vulture and bald eagle also were brought out and often interacted with people from the crowd as part of the show. At the end of the show, all the birds were brought back out and shown to the large crowd.

Falcon

Owl

Bald Eagle Wants to Fly

By now it was 5 PM and we were admittedly getting tired of walking around and trying to take in the whole fair in one day. One area that draws a lot of the audience is the Midway with all the carnival rides. This isn’t really our thing but they do have a tram ride that goes from one side of the midway to the other. We figured this would a fun way to get a birds eye view of the fairgrounds at a more relaxed speed.

Entering the Midway

Tram Ride

View of Merry-Go-Round

It was pretty amazing just how crowded the midway was. Probably 90% of the people in this area were under the age of 16 and there were a large number of rides for them to try out. We were just pleased to have an easy way to get back to the other side of the fairgrounds for some of the last things we wanted to see and do.

Fair Food Below

Ride Frames the Sun

Ferris Wheel

There was a petting zoo with lots of different animals. Goats and donkeys and even a couple of zebras were under the large tent. For an additional fee, you could even take a ride on a camel - we passed on the opportunity.

Goat Collection

Donkeys

Llama

The sheep barn had some action going on. There were several of them getting their coats trimmed. It was a rather noisy area since the sheep didn’t seem to be willing participants and were rather vocal about their predicament.

Sheep in Distress?

We were able to make it to the last showing of the day of the Hollywood Racing Pigs at 6 PM. There is a short course fenced off with some railing to form the oval that the pigs will race around. The announcer did a good job at whipping up the audience to cheer on the little pigs. Each heat featured 4 competitors. They do seem to get around the course rather quickly although it wasn’t perfectly clear why they would be inclined to run around unless they are just very competitive.

Overlooking Pig Race Course

And They're Off

Heading Down the Backstretch

It had been a full day and while there are things that extend out until closing at 11 PM, we didn’t have the wherewithal to stick around much longer. We caught the parade that takes place each afternoon.

Military Band

High School Band

We walked past the area where the sea lion show was just finishing up. This looks like it was likely a very entertaining show as well. There were several groups of people waiting to have a photo taken with the cute sea lions. It wasn’t clear how the animals knew when pictures were being taken but in the middle of playing in their pools, they would sense they were required and they would run over and slide into the people standing by the stage. We slowly made our way back to the car and found ours in the sea of cars that surrounds the fairgrounds. We were amazed at how much fun we had today.

Sea Lion

Sea Lion Photo Bombers

One of the Show Horses

We took it easy the following day but did get out to visit Fleur De Lis Brew Works in Seneca Falls. It s a smaller brewery but it has a wonderful setting. We each get a flight of 4 beers to take outside and sit around the circular patio and water fountain. We found it so relaxing that we decided to get a glass of our favorite beer from our tasting and just relax while some visitors took advantage of the disc golf course on the grounds.

We head into Clifton Springs to find a few geocaches and get a tour of the area by way of an Adventure Lab. The area has numerous sulfur springs and has a history of spas and retreats touting the therapeutic affects of the water. One of the larger building in town had been a spa but has now been converted into apartments. Originally called Sulphur Springs, the name was apparent since there was the slight smell of sulphur in the air as we wandered around town.

Tower of Old Spa Building

Spring Water Channel

Our tour included walking past the hospital where we had gotten our colonoscopies earlier during our stay. It is a cute little town with lots of historic buildings.

Pond

Old Church

We were having a rather hot streak for early September so we headed out for a hike early one morning to beat the heat. The Blue Cut Nature Center near Lyons has some nice trails thru the woods that we have visited years ago but there were a few new geocaches in the park and we figured it might be nice to see the place again. One of the hides we initially had difficulty spotting was a bright green rubber lizard. It wasn’t clear how we could miss something this bright but it was kind of camouflaged by a large spider web.

Lizard Geocache

Mushroom

One section of the park that wasn’t there before was the Blue Cut Fairy Trail. There was a wide assortment of unusual displays.  Most were not quite what we are accustomed to seeing along a typical fairy trail but it was enjoyable nonetheless. After lunch, we headed into Geneva to watch a movie. We figured spending three hours in air conditioning on a hot afternoon might be good. Oppenheimer worked out well for our goal.

Entrance to Fairy Trail

Musical Instruments from Kitchen