Tulsa State Fair

October 7, 2023 – Day 9

We had a slow morning. Paul went out to do more Ham Radio stuff while Susan relaxed in the RV. Around mid-afternoon we headed into the Tulsa State Fair. Paul loves fair food and he thought it would be great dinner food (susan here: hmm. It’s his month to cook. Ulterior motives?) We both wanted to see the fireworks at dusk so there was no reason to rush to the venue. It was only a 25 minutes minute ride to reach the back of the line of cars that were cued up waiting to turn into the parking area. About 20 minutes later we’d parked the Jeep and headed toward the fair grounds entrance. The fairgrounds are just east of downtown Tulsa and still within the city limits. Seems a silly place to put a fair with livestock and various competitions. Back in New England we put our fairgrounds out in the middle of nowhere and the parking is free and easy.

Just inside we saw something neither of us had seen before. It was a double decker merry-go-round! The other peculiar feature was that all the animals are fancy. To the best of either of our recollection usually the outside posts/animals are fancy and the inner ones tend to be plain.

The fair started off quite nicely, with a diving exhibition. They started off doing serious dives from 25-30 feet above a 10′ deep pool that was probably 25 feet wide. This wonderful 3 person dive was a crowd pleaser.

There is only so much standard diving one can watch before you lose the audience. The troupe, named the Flying Fools High Dive Show, realizes this. You can probably tell by the name that they transitioned from serious olympic style diving into serious slapstick comedy style diving. They were quite funny and very good.

Look way up, see him up there? 80 feet of “up there” on a postage stamp size of a platform? We were both dizzy just looking up at it! Remember, we mentioned it’s only 10′ deep? His fellow troop members were on the edge of the pool rippling the water so he could judge from eighty feet above exactly where the bottom of the pool is. Apparently that’s a very important detail. 😉

Then it was time for Fair Food! Food that is basically over priced “food” that you would only ever eat at a fair. Paul is a huge fan of Fair Food. He loves the beef stew in a bread bowl served in the evenings at the New England fairs. Susan would rather eat at McDonald’s. Or die. And she’s not a fan of either of those options.

Just about everything was fried. We even found friend watermelon! Seriously? FRIED WATERMELON!? One has to question the sanity of the folks that live in Tulsa.

But, in the spirit of eating stuff you normally don’t eat, Susan had a Pulled Pork BBQ Parfait. It’s made of pulled pork, mashed potatoes and BBQ sauce. Apparently this is a thing. She was less than impressed and ate maybe a 1/3 of it. Paul ate the rest of it. (susan here: perhaps not quite as bad as McDonalds’ slightly soggy chicken sandwich. The one and only time I had one? I looked into the foil bag and thought “If sadness was a sandwich this would be it.”)

She’s smiling because she hasn’t taken a bite yet. Paul opted for Moink Balls, which was 5 beef meatballs, wrapped in bacon, slathered in BBQ sauce.

It also was just okay. We should stop complaining because we had set out to eat fair food. The problem is it was the same fair food on repeat every 50 yards. There was little originality which was what we both wanted. We can get corn dogs at home. We weren’t expecting a Gordon Ramsey experience but we wanted local delicacies! In retrospect, we’ll probably remember these foods and laugh over them years to come. Or maybe still need antacids. The jury is out on that one.

We found a cool looking pavilion but the door was locked. Another fair goer expressed dismay at this discovery however we found the side door open and found a tractor was flattening the dirt infield. Paul spoke with someone asked “What’s coming up next?” Neither of us understood what was said but it sounded something like “Yookers.” Paul said he didn’t hear it and the stranger said “Yookers” again. Paul asked it if was good and he was told yes.

Turns out it was the kids from the 4H club. They were beginners and doing barrel racing. We watched the beginners heat which was 7 kids with times ranging from 18 seconds to 32 seconds. It fun to watch them.

14 Intermediates were coming out next. But first, the tractor had to come out and do its thing. We decided to explore the fair then headed out. We do hope to see a real rodeo sometime.

Then it was into the livestock barn, we quickly left. The quarters were tight and the animals were huge. And being animals they could be unpredictable. This made both of us uncomfortable. Plus the ranchers and handlers were busy working and we didn’t want to get in the way so we exited down a side path and looked in the windows.

This was at the far end of the fairgrounds. All we had seen were rides, games of chance/skill and more fair food than we had ever seen before. Where were the sheep, the goats, the poultry, the largest vegetables and pumpkins?

We walked back to the midway point and rested for a bit. Paul went in search of guidance and found Guest Services. They told him where the petting zoo, more animal husbandry and the stunt dog show would be found. Paul also found a grilled kielbasa stand. (susan here: I think that kielbasa was his goal all along and that “looking for Guest Services” was his cover story.) Earlier in the day he’d walked by one and overlooked it. He wished he had gotten it earlier because an hour or so later that one was pretty tough and dry.

We walked back to where had just left, shorting cutting through the money grab for crapy items [excuse us but sorry not sorry] “mall” where merchandize allegedly made in Oklahoma was being sold.

And there it was, a photography exhibit!!! We’d found our people. Looking at the images we both questioned the judges choices. Some of the 1st place photos were great but some weren’t. Really wonderful ones placed 2nd but deserved 1st. Then we found a fate worse than not getting 1st place. There was a display case of photos where several had fallen to the ground and couldn’t be viewed!

Paul and Susan both judged the petting zoo to be nightmare for the animals. The open petting pen had animals that were actively avoiding being touched. Some of them were extra distressed displaying flattened ears and “hiding” with their rear ends pointed toward the people as if to escape it all. Stupid humans did stupid things like walk up behind these animals and started patting or scratching their back end. I was surprised these people weren’t kicked or bitten because of the “don’t wanna deal with this anymore” body language. (There was ample signage warning that this was an “at your own risk” thing).

There were new mother goats with their days old babies nervously watching the passers by. Smartly they were double penned in. That additional fence was placed a good distance from the pen so stupid people wouldn’t try, well, stupid things.

It was also too crowed of an indoor space for both of us. If we wanted to we could have stayed to watch a milking exhibition but we just wanted to get outside.

We did get to see the very rare Cleaning Brush Goat, Purgato Penicillo aegagrus hircus. We’d heard about this critter but never actually seen one! How exciting!!!

Or maybe they just got their head stuck in the wire fence one too many times and their handler, exasperated, concocted this solution. We set off to find Stunt Dogs. They’re a troop of people and dogs who do agility and tricks. We watched a good deal of the show. It was fun but there is only so much one can watch.

Paul forgets how high this dog jumped, certainly higher than either of us could! (susan here; as I recall it was over 54″.) Next up was a pretty sunset. The fireworks would be set off shortly. Fairs are prettier at night with all that neon.

And we finish up with the ubiquitous fair food, the corn dog. (No, we didn’t order even one.)

And what do we spot over there? A Donut Burger. What is a donut burger you might ask? A substandard burger in, what we were told, was a pretty darn good donut. What could be more fair food than a donut in a burger? Apparently this is another “thing” and been around a while. The lady who told us about it couldn’t believe we hadn’t heard about it. “We’re not from around here.” was my response. As if she needed to be told that. She was still surprised. Never did ask what a “butt fry” is. Not sure we want to know.

We’re glad we went. But overall the fair was a bit of a disappointment. It had a very different flavor from the New England fairs we’re used to. No rows of sheep, or goats, no giant pumpkin. It was very cattle heavy, which in retrospect, is what is raised here so that shouldn’t be a surprise. Petting a sheep is fun, petting a cow is intimidating. Petting a fluffy cow is dangerous. Don’t pet the fluffy cows.

Daily: 0

Total: 1,632

Moving Miles/Day: 326

Overall Miles/Day: 204