Ferris Wheels, Mean Goats and Deep-Fried Oreos

It’s been years… but we finally ventured back to the Los Angeles Country Fair.

The fair was what you would expect it to be. Overpriced admission, overpriced midway games and overpriced food. With the economy being in supposed turmoil, you’d be surprised how many people still insist on paying $15 for “preferred” parking. Oh wait, I was one of them. They did have a shuttle for those who wouldn’t pay the extra $5, and they also had guys pedaling around on bicycle-pulled chariots who would take you to the gate for an additional fee (on top of what you already paid just to get a space!).

We bought our tickets from the AT&T store for $10 (compared to $17 at the gate) so it wasn't too bad. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they allow outside drinks into the fair. They confiscated our canned sodas, but they ok’d the water bottles we stuffed in a cooler under Ethan’s stroller, so that alone saved us a TON. There were several Sparklets water stations where you could get free water… you could only get them in those itty bitty cups like you get at the dentist office, but I applaud the effort.

We walked through the carnival rides/midway games first, but failed to find anything too appealing. The rides looked scarier than what I remember them to be. After having a kid, the thrill of going on the rides (just to beat the odds of being on it when it breaks down because they forgot that one bolt) just isn’t there anymore. The prizes looked cheesier than ever… Ethan was fascinated, but he wanted no part of it.

The three little piggies...

Of course, you can’t go to the fair without going to the animal exhibit. The barn was fairly clean, and the animals looked happy. They had more space to roam, and the majority of them weren’t even show animals… they were just… educational. And the ones in the “petting complex” were surprisingly more friendly, almost aggressive, which was odd. Don't they feed these animals??? They sure make a lot of money selling those itty bitty cups of feed for $2 so they should be able to afford to feed them! Most of them were nice (I think I might've made a new friend), and some were just downright mean. One of them almost took out Sissy... it was actually pretty hilarious.

Nice goat...

Mean goat...

Best part of the day was the fair food. They had EVERYTHING deep-fried --- twinkies, snicker bars, frog legs, pickles, coke? How does one actually deep fry coke? It must involve some freezing, but it will have to remain a mystery. After much debate, our curiosity led us to get the deep-fried oreos… what a heart attack in a small paper basket. It sounds absolutely disgusting, and after 2 bites, I could hear my arteries screaming for help, but boy, it was de-LISH!

The deep-fried white castle burgers were tempting...

We also decided to try the smoked turkey leg, but was left very disappointed (maybe not Jojo). I had a craving for a funnel cake, but that dwindled away after the unappetizing turkey leg… or whatever that was.

I have to say I was surprised that I didn’t see any presence of security past the gate, so we did make sure to get out of there before dusk after hearing about local gangs using the fairgrounds to congregate at night. It was a bit crowded… and with any crowded public place, you’ll always run into a group of people you don’t want to be around with, but what can you do? We didn’t see any fights, but you can bet I had four eyes on Ethan the whole time and was ready to b-line to the nearest exit if I needed to.


Overall, it was expensive but we had fun. We’ll probably do it again next year.