I’ve trimmed the time between visits to the Ohio State Fair to four years. That’s much less than the multiple decades that separated my 2015 visit from the one that preceded it. A conversation with a friend who goes every year planted the seed then reading about one particular exhibit got me to seriously thinking about it. Some altered plans and great looking weather turned those thoughts into action.

As I did four years ago, I took advantage of free parking for members at the Ohio History Connection and entered the fair through the nearby gate 3. That brought me right to the north end of the midway. The Sky Glider travels directly over the Food Highway where fried anything, including bubble gum, can be found.

This is the exhibit involved in my decision to head to this year’s fair. In recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing, a butter sculpture of the Apollo 11 crew joins the cow and calf that are fair regulars. The calf is just out of frame in that first picture but both buttery bovines are there. Ohio’s contribution to the crew, Neil Armstrong, makes a second appearance along with what I suspect is a rather slippery ladder.

The moon landing also gets some attention in the chalk drawings outside the Fine Arts Center as does another event celebrating a fifty year anniversary. The Woodstock Music Festival took place less than a month after Apollo 11 flight. The third photograph presents its subject with better perspective because 1) it was drawn with that in mind and 2) I had instructions.  

I caught the All-Ohio State Fair Band in a performance in an open space called Central Park. While the band delivered some high energy tunes, the fellow in the second picture kept up some very impressive twirling, tossing, catching, and, as you can see, acrobatics.

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any actual turkey judging but I watched just a bit today. I really had no idea what was going on but I have been around turkeys before and the folks attempting to control them certainly had my sympathy. I also watched a little calf judging and passed by three adult dairy cows. The cows were displayed by the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association and each had a sign with their name (this one is Louise) and the phrase “I’m pregnant and due any day now.”

The Ohio Beer and Wine Pavilion is new this year. I was about to leave after my planned one beer stop when it was announced that North High Brewing’s brewmaster, Jason McKibben, was in the building and about to give a presentation. I decided to stick around and, after he started talking about the brewery’s collaboration with the Ohio Farm Bureau, have one more beer. Here‘s something you don’t see on a beer can every day.

I emptied my can of Cover Crop and was once again ready to leave when I was once again enticed to stay. This time it was the start of the Human Cannonball show across the way that pulled me in. I failed to get any photos of the Cannonball’s daughter doing some impressive aerial acrobatics but I did catch his buddy on the tightwire. The announcement leading to the cannon firing included the claim that only about 700 human cannonballs have ever existed since the occupation was created by 14-year-old Zazel in 1877. I haven’t found any independent support of that but it does seem reasonable and it made me wonder if I had ever actually seen one before. I’ve seen a few circuses and a human cannonball seems like something I should have seen but I don’t have any specific memories. In any case, I’ve never seen one this close and I’ve never taken a picture of one exiting the cannon barrel.

With the Human Cannonball’s successful landing, I was again ready to depart and this time I made it. The midway was significantly more active as I passed through it on the way out than it had been on my arrival but nothing tempted me. I’ve now pretty much outgrown the desire to be tossed around or turned upside down, and some of those rides looked quite capable of separating me from my recently consumed Farm Bureau approved beverage.