South Florida Fair

2010 South Florida Fair Update
The 2010 South Florida Fair is January 15-31. This year's theme is America's National Parks. Discount tickets are available online until January 14th. The discounts are substantial, particularly on adult tickets, which are $10 advance versus $15 at the gate. You can pick these up at Publix as well. Discounted wristband vouchers are also available, they are priced at $20 advance versus $25 at the fair. There's also a "Mega Saver" priced at a $89 dollars. The big price gets you a lot of fair - 4 admissions, 2 wristbands, and four $5 food tickets. That's more than $40 cheaper than buying these items individually at the fair.

The National Parks theme should fit really well, since the South Florida Fair is more outdoorsy than the average fair, due to Yesteryear Village (Yesteryear Village alone is worth the price of fair admission). Exhibits planned for the National Parks theme include an 8 foot saltwater aquarium and a replica of the Boca Chita lighthouse in Biscayne National Park, a 25 foot waterfall representing Yosemite, a 35 foot replica of a giant Sequoia tree, a working replica of Old Faithful, and quite a bit more! It should be really fun and interesting.

We'll post more about the fair after it opens, with our third year of on-the-spot "Average Joe" reporting.

2009 South Florida Fair Update
The South Florida Fair is back again this year with the super superb Wade Shows midway! The schedule of events is too long to list here, you'll have to roll over to www.southfloridafair.com if you want to see the events and discounts for 09. You can see pictures of the midway at the Wade Shows website.

Making a return appearance is the Pinfari RC-48 roller coaster, the largest mobile roller coaster in the US. In 2008, Wade Show purchased this from Morey's Pier in New Jersey and the South Florida Fair was its first use since 2004. Wade also introduces their new Wisdom Drag Strip Mega Slide, the largest US-made portable slide. The gigantic 8 lane slide is 160' long, over 70' tall, and travels on two 53 foot trailers.

Older update
The South Florida Fair comes to West Palm Beach for three weeks every January and it is absolutely a can't-miss event. There's everything you'd expect at a country fair (from pig racing and mechanical bull riding to arts and crafts), plus a huge midway full of rides and games, a huge exhibition hall with a different theme every year, and a dozen smaller exhibition halls. From historic Yesteryear Village to the 80+ ride midway with its cutting-edge rides and the huge kiddie midway, saying that the South Florida Fair offers something exciting for all ages is not just delivering a sound bite, it's the damn truth.

The main Exposition Center hosts vendors and exhibits with a different theme each year. Smaller exhibition buildings house more vendors and craftspeople, and also a local favorite - the HO scale model railroad room. Animals are everywhere, with contests for the biggest and best, as well as contests for cooking and crafting, and the annual Miss South Florida Fair pageant. A trip into Yesteryear Village takes you back in time through various eras in local history, featuring dozens of restored local historic buildings and houses, with volunteers in period garb to answer all of your questions. The kids love the tractors, steam engines, and fire engines! Yesteryear Village is a fixed part of the fairgrounds and is open year round.

In 2006, Wade Shows replaced Conklin Shows as the midway provider and the fair has never been better! Aside from the large number of rides (almost 90!) in all shapes, sizes, and styles, the units were all immaculate, bright, clean, freshly-painted, and all illumination fully functional. I can't stress enough how impressed I was with the quality and maintenance of the rides. In addition, many had descriptive signs explaining the origins of the rides. The array of rides was just amazing, too - tame kiddie rides (also in near-perfect condition and upkeep) walk-through funhouses and dark rides, the spinning roller coaster Crazy Mouse, and many of the gut-churning "big spinning arms on huge bolted pylons" rides like Spin Out, Space Loop, and the aptly-named Freak Out. A true connoisseur of rides, Wade's owner even brought in Jimmy Drew's one-of-a-kind Seattle Wheel, a 90 foot tall fully restored 15 car Ferris Wheel from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Wade pulls together an incredibly well-thought array of rides for this midway and the quality really shines.

And the food... do I need to go into the food? Standard fair fare, with all manner of fried dough, enormous turkey legs, anything you could imagine battered and fried, ice cream, frozen bananas, yummy yummy grilled corn, Mexican-inspired arepas...the list is seemingly endless. It's fun to see the gimmicks the different vendors use to entice the hungry patron - maybe a large tent-covered picnic area or perhaps an animated singing stuffed pig! A new addition this year was a booth serving beer and mixed drinks (at prices not much higher than a local bar), and another offering frozen rumrunners and magaritas.

Throughout the fair you can catch performances by local talent as well as national acts. Information on the shows and events is available at www.southfloridafair.com, there's just too much for me to type.

Admission is $15 for adults and $8 for children under 11. Discounted tickets go on sale at the box office and local outlets in December. Various entrance and ride packages are also available, from one day to several.

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