"Mad About the Fair" - SD Fair 2016: The Sights

It's that time of the year again...

where we make the trek to the horse park in Del Mar to score on free parking...

in order to attend the San Diego County Fair super early...

This year, I was able to obtain free tickets due to my educator status. There were only two days the ticket could be used and since we were out of town last week on the 17th, we went a week later.

The theme, "Mad About the Fair" was evident throughout the decor (Alice in Wonderland meets steampunk), the annual dressing of Don Diego, this tine as the Mad Hatter (Tim Burton's version of "Alice in Wonderland) and the wonderful decoration with the backwards clock that greets all fairgoers as they walk through the entrance.


We got there super early and had to wait in a line for the first time in six years but no worries. We got to hear a band play tunes for those in line, we saw our good friend Superman, and also witnessed the opening ceremonies where they sing the national anthem and raise the flag.

This post will focus on just the sights...

Of course, the fair featured lots of fried foods. This booth had a fried candy Mexican snack cake, Gansitos. It's like a chocolate twinkie but with a strawberry jam strip within. I've tried it before and it's good; Neveria Tocumbo also features an ice cream with Gansitos.

Cathy recommended this place and it would be our first food stop. We don't mess around.  Full fledged post with details to follow.

Sadly, they do not offer a purple Icee (we found that out several years ago) so therefore, they should not even have that color depicted as a drink dammit.

This booth was our last food stop...

The best deal of the day came from this booth, Old Tyme Ice Cream thanks to the hot pink coupon booklet they gave out fairgoers.

This was one of the new fried foods offered this year, Deep Fried Lemonade. Mary tried it and liked it (check out her fair post linked at the end).

This is one of the few booths offering healthy choices. I actually wanted to get a jerk chicken leg but they weren't quite ready (it was barely 11:30 am)...


I'll have to wait 'til next year to give them a try.

Sinaloan food booth. They had mariscos too! But yeah, fair prices...I could get this so much cheaper down south but that ain't the point of the fair, is it.

Another booth with vegetables. We tried something different this year from Roxy's...

More food booths:


Lobster Shack had their different choices out...

Of course, Bacon A-Fair, a favorite for those who are into heart attack food.


We tried going to the Paddock Tavern after our first two fair foods but they weren't ready to serve food yet (it was already 11:45'ish) so they told us to come back in an hour.

There was also a guy standing near the booth (not pictured) with a real snake around his neck. Ugh!

Chicken Charlies also had another booth by the AgriFair. See the Chicken in a Waffle? Check out Kirbie and Mary's posts linked at the end.

Inside the Agrifar were different local vendors such as gourmet peanut butters and products sold using camel's milk (what!). The farm animal petting area was still there as well as a (fake) cow-milking demo area, exhibits about the importance of farming, and new this year, an opportunity to eat a bug (dried beetles were the only choice) at The Good, the Bad and the Yummy.  Nice.


The "Mad About the Fair" exhibit had something for everyone from historical displays of clocks, vintage Alice in Wonderland books and related items, steampunk displays, plus artwork by Grace Slick (quite fitting since she sang "White Rabbit" in Jefferson Airplane), and much more.







Printing plates used for John Tenniel's illustrations for the original printing of "Alice in Wonderland".




This fanciful tea party table was quite popular. It was tough trying to find an empty seat at times.  Literally, after I took this shot, a group of school children came in and sat down in every seat. For the record, all of the plates, cups and tea pots were glued down.

Cool steampunk displays...



Grace Slick exhibit:


The White Rabbit, a key character in "Alice in Wonderland" was also the name of a famous song by Jefferson Airplane.

Here's the song, "White Rabbit" for you young ones who have no idea about the reference:

The song includes direct references to the book which also had double meaning as drug references.

This was also a cool painting which depicted many musical figures from the 60's and 70's.

Her painting below I liked very much.  It was a parody of the "Is it live or is it Memorex" commercials in the 80's.

And again, here is the Memorex cassette tape commercial (the man in the chair was also a popular poster in the 80's):


On the way to Kidville we checked out this classic car display. We actually saw that blue Mustang on our way to the fair that morning.



We even caught a glimpse of Alice and the White Rabbit themselves...

One of my favorite parts of the fair is checking out the Home & Hobby Displays.

This was a cute collection fitting with the fair's theme.

This was a bit random - Power Rangers, Alice in Wonderland and record albums?  What the hell was Duran Duran's "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" doing there? All of the other albums are classic rock except that. Duran Duran is more like classic 80's!

Fleur de lis collection. Quite elegant.

This was really cool too. I recently bought two vintage mini elves at a tea shop in downtown Chula Vista. The owner told me that they were found in an unopened box filled with other old stuff (it hadn't been opened in 40 years she said).  Anyhow, the larger elves are the newer ones, the rest are vintage.



These really creep out TC, with their sideways glance expressions.

It's always cool to see the baked items, like these ultra thin Cayenne crisp brownies.


Amazing themed cakes:






Needlepoint - very detailed. The angel below was the grand prize winner (it was also done by a man!).


Quilts and knits here.  Look closely behind the Mad Hatter. See the cowboy quilt?  Uhhh...hmmm.

This one was quite amazing with the choice of fabrics used for each detail (mountains, clouds, cactus, etc)...

Purple galore!

Back to the cowboy quilt.  OMG, can this be any GAYER?  And I say that in a good way so no hate mail please.

Yee haw!

There were also a display for themed table settings complete with menus:


This was my favorite:


Collections were not as interesting as past years but there were still some I found quite cool like this collection of patches (40 years worth).


TC has that Trees of Mystery patch! (that post from our Northern California road trip last summer is forthcoming).

These are vintage QSL Ham radio contact cards:

QSL Cards info from the Wikipedia entry on QSL cards:

 QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radiocommunication between twoamateur radio stations or a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, televisionor shortwave broadcasting station. It can also confirm the reception of a two-way radiocommunication by a third party listener. A typical QSL card is the same size and made from the same material as a typical postcard, and most are sent through the mail as such.

QSL card derived its name from the Q code "QSL". A Q code message can stand for a statement or a question (when the code is followed by a question mark). In this case, QSL? means "do you confirm receipt of my transmission?" while QSL means "I confirm receipt of your transmission".

These were media badges from a music photographer:

This collection featured a year's worth of chewed up toys from a family dog.

One of the best collections I saw was "Things no longer in use".  A woman was cleaning out her mother's house and these items were what she found.  OMG, so totally true.

LP records, an atlas, VHS tapes (one labeled "1988 Olympics:), floppy disks, cassette tapes (one labeled "San Diego Super Chargers", the actual disco theme song for the team), 35mm film for an actual camera, a Rolodex, an address book (I still have one!) and sadly, thank you cards. I'm old school and still send out thank you cards. One of my rules for TC is that anytime she gets a gift (cash or otherwise), she cannot use it until she writes and sends a Thank You card. You better believe she writes those cards, ha ha.

Comic Con badges (this dated from the early 2000's to last year). It would have been cool to see a collection from the very beginning of the Con. I still have my first one from 1991.

This was funny - Someone collected mail that was sent to the family dog!

Vintage bartending guides:

International Barbies (hey, where's the Philippines!?):

Hello Kitty:

Superman:

Kitchen timers - This was cool! There is a Death Star in there!!!

Cool execution of the steam punk theme in jewelry and sculpture:



On a much different note, here is what I sat on at various times during the fair. What is this you may ask?  It's a Tokidoki diaper changing pad. Yes, diaper. One comes with each Tokidoki Jujube bag purchase. I like my bags even though I don't put diapers or baby bottles in them, ha ha.  I figured I would put it this pad to use so I wouldn't dirty my white shorts. Seriously. Plus, the pad is washable and it's the Bubble Trubble print.

The sun was out by the later afternoon.

We walked about 12,000 steps that day. I initially wore sandals (flip flops, nice ones) but changed to my Converse later that day. I have a lovely flip flop tan to show for it.

In between eating and checking out exhibits, we also enjoyed the garden area, mainly to get ideas on landscaping.  There was a wine area where you could buy meat and cheese boards to enjoy with your wine.










Spanish moss, airplants, and succulent display:



This vendor's wares were quite beautiful:


Inside the flower display area was a steampunk themed cake decorated with gears, keys, and clocks.

Plus interesting flower arrangements:


The mini donuts booth at the back of the Bing Crosby Hall was highly recommended by Cathy (see her post linked at the end). Sadly, the line was too long (as in out the door) and wasn't moving fast enough for me.

We saw a few folks carrying these pineapple drinks...

Prizes this year...


I get the stuffed animals but the poo emoji?  They even had hats with the poo emoji on it.

A portion of the mural featuring crooner Bing Crosby himself as you walk from the infield to the other side of the fair (which has Mexican Village, Kidville, World of Horses and more).

Papel picado streamers in the Mexican village area:


These pullovers remind me of what perpetually stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli wore in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", one of the best movies ever.

Here's the scene where he orders pizza in class and his plan backfires on him.

(the pizza delivery guy, Taylor Negron died a few years ago)

Luchadora masks:

This awesome giant robot! It's in the Kidville area. There is a person inside working this too (in the chest area).


There's an article about it in today's paper. The guy who made this does shows three times a day; we caught the tail end of the 5 pm show.

This was so damn cool!

In the farming/garden area was this educational exhibit on mushrooms. Last year, the subject was bees.


Bert and I learned about Square Foot Gardening from Russ (one of the gardeners working there).


Passionflower vines:

Artichokes:

Gosh, why can't our gardens look this lush and healthy?


The bleachers near the horse ring was new. The World of Horses used to be TC's favorite part of the fair when she was young. Bert and I were on our own for the most part that day since she had a couple of friends with whome she was roaming the fair.



As we walked back to the main part of the fair, we remembered when there used to be a bridge to cross this portion of the race track. It's been gone for about two years now. It's so wierd but much more practical to walk straight across instead of a labyrinthine set of raised ramps.


We had our last snack, texted the teens to meet us so we could head back home. It was already 6:30 p.m. by this point.

Yay, the double decker bus ride back to the horse park parking...

where we passed by the fairly new Gelson's (an upscale market)...

The SD Fair lasts until July 4th. Ir's not too late to come, enjoy the food, ride, and exhibits!


Besides food, I bought two pairs of earrings at separate booths in Mexican Village. The hand beaded one was from the state of Oaxaca (I got to use my Spanish speaking skills with the vendors who were all super nice).

TC bought a mini license plate keychain personalized with her name (not shown). Those pre-made name plates NEVER have her name so for only $3 she was able to have one made for her.  She and her friend bought Space Sand (it repels water too!). It came with an inflatable pool and a bag of the "sand" (she chose pink; there were other color choices). Apparently, there were TV commercials for Moon Sand in the early 2000's and she and her cousins used to want this.  I honestly don't remember the commercials but when she saw this there for only $6, she got a box.



I made the octopus! The sand feels really interesting; this is a "no mess" kind of activity which is great.You can shape the sand dry into the molds. I believe you can also wet it. The box says for ages 3+ but I can see some curious kids trying to eat this.

Who else went to the Fair?
As ever, Cathy had a great post about what goes on BEFORE the Fair:
"2016 San Diego County Fair - Mad About the Fair Part One: Before It Opens!"

aaaaaaand hot off the press,"2016 - San Diego County Fair-Mad About the Fair-Part Two-It's (been) open!".  Looking forward to her "after the fair" post!

For more fair fun, check out these posts by Mary and Kirbie who visited earlier last week.

Previous SD Fair Posts (The Sights):
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011 (combo of sights & food)
2010

Stay tuned for the next post which features the foods that Bert and I tried (most of which were new to us)...