For those of you that don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, you might not know about the wonderful over-packed-ness that is the Washington State Fair. Also, previously known as the Puyallup Fair, which I can only assume they changed since no one from out of state could pronounce it.

For those not from here, that’s pronounced “Pew-aall-up”. Or at least, that’s how I say it.

There was a fun slogan though, “Do The Puyallup”. When you saw the big pink pig appear around town with “Do The Puyallup” proudly displayed below it, you knew it was time for the Fair.

Images from thefair.com

My friend RGG will be gratified to know that I went to my very first concert at the Fair when I was a young tyke of only eleven years, and I saw…The New Kids On The Block. Twice.

The Fair has had many names since its initiation in 1900…The Valley Fair, the Western Washington Fair Association, the Puyallup Fair, and now the Washington State Fair. When I was looking up some fun facts to include in here, I was interested to read that the Fair is a completely private, non-profit organization. I think that’s pretty cool, seeing how there are so many people to whom going to the Fair is an annual tradition that they’ve been participating in since they were kids. Now, like me, many of them are introducing their own kids to that same tradition.

This year, they had a Star Trek fanboy exhibit. I say fanboy, but there were a bunch of girls there too, so maybe it was a fanboy-and-girl exhibit. Band Geek was pretty excited. I thought it was totally cool, but the Kid kind of could have cared less. Though I think he thought the captain’s chairs and set replicas were pretty cool. I wasn’t able to take any pictures inside! So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

We got there kind of late in the day, and spent the majority of our time browsing Seahawks gear, browsing the 4H exhibit (those kids are freaking talented), finding the grub you can only get at the fair (hello, Earthquake Burgers!) and waiting in line for the wooden roller coaster. Which, I’m not kidding you, lasted for almost two hours.

We didn’t get around to looking at the livestock (horses, cow, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens…you name it), and I forgot to get my elephant ears on the way out! Still, it was pretty awesome. I got some pictures of the rides and stuff while we were waiting in line for the coaster. As you can see, it was freaking PACKED.

The Classic Coaster is a regular feature at the Fair, since 1935 according to the helpful website where I gleaned all these interesting facts! As we waited in line, I snapped some photos of the mini exhibit they had describing the previous “Old Mill Ride” that lived next to the Coaster until it burned down to the ground in April of 1970.

The Coaster itself is made out of wood, recently renovated to last “another 100 years” according to the website. It’s a two-hour wait for a 5 minute ride (if that) but it was pretty worth it.

Once it started to get dark we figured it was time to head back, but not until The Kid got his cotton candy.

Another successful trip to the Fair! Next year: I’m getting my elephant ears.