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The wait is finally over. The Utah State Fair is underway. The gates opened this morning and will stay open until Sept. 14.
The rides opened at about 3:00 this afternoon, and ever since then the crowds have been pouring in. But guess what the most popular attraction is at the State Fair?
They can be noisy, sometimes smelly, but the livestock and farm animals are a huge hit.
Some of the animals were groomed this afternoon, as children petted the animals on display. Like a barber with sharp scissors, one farmer sheared and shaped his sheep. "You've got to have a good set of feet and legs and some size and scale and correctness," he said.
Another animal at the fair comes from Florida. Big Al is a 13-and-a-half foot long alligator that weighs 1,200 pounds.
"Does he bite?" We asked his owner. "Yes, all alligators bite," he answered.
Another reason people come to the fair is for the junk food, things like fried Twinkies, fried Oreos, fried Snickers and, making it's State Fair debut, fried peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.
Jon Searle of J&J Concessions explained, "I take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and stick it with a stick, dip it in my special batter, stick it in the fryer for about two minutes, let it cool, put on powdered sugar and chocolate syrup and serve up the love."
Jim Cox sampled it and said, "Very good. Probably I'll have a few more before this day is over."
Of course there are plenty of other things to do, everything from listening to live music to playing carnival games. Every year, about 300,000 people visit the State Fair. It's the largest single annual event in the state.
Fair officials think they'll have another good year.
Denise Allen, the fair's public relations director, said, "The economy, of course, is a concern. But we're finding that fairs, across across the nation, have done very well this year. People are staying close to home and finding things in their own backyards."
For more information about the fair, see the link on this page.
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
