Saturday, October 17, 2015

Big Tex

The Texas State Fair is a three week event that takes over the art deco buildings and facades of Fairpark fairgrounds in Dallas. I knew I wanted to attend when I read this list of "39 Things You Should See in Texas Before You Die."

It lasts for three weeks, and I found the time to finally go on the second to last day. decided to do the "Dr. Pepper Half Price after Five" deal - bring a can of Dr. Pepper any day and get in for half price starting at 5pm. This good idea also seemed like a good idea to a lot of other people, too.

I had to stand in line to first get a coupon in exchange for my empty can. And I use the term "line" very loosely, as it's really a mass of people moving towards the same point. Once I got the coupon, I had to enter another "line" to redeem that coupon for an actual ticket into the Fair.

I was finally in though, and sort of already wore out. I'd been there almost an hour but hadn't done anything yet. However, I had to stand in another line to purchase coupons for food and rides. I was glad a friend from work told me about this - the Fair does not accept cash or cards in exchange for food. Coupons/tickets must be bought, and everything is sold for a number of tickets. This line ended up being longer than it needed to be because one of the three person-less ticket-dispensing machines ran out of tickets, meaning that line needed to merge with another line.

This may sound super complainy, and I guess it is. I'm just used to other Fair experiences. And a lot of it was of my own doing, as I chose to go on the second to last day at 5pm. Next year I think I'll take a half day from work and check out the Fair with more time.


I did get to see Pig Racing and other animals on display, which is my favorite part of any Fair. And ate a lot of fried food, including deep fried pecan pie (which I don't recommend....it's a little too much!)







And, I took the train to the Fair, which was a win-win choice: I didn't have to bother with finding parking/dealing with traffic; and was able to read a large chunk of a very great book, Station Eleven. Transit reading is the best.

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