We Went to the Fair

Went to the grand old Western Washington Fair in Puyallup Washington yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. I was raised in Puyallup and the fair was always a big deal to me and most of my family. 

Yesterday us seniors could get in free if we brought something for the local food bank so Jackie and I got up early and drove from our home to the fair and got there about 9:30 in the morning. We had a normal breakfast here at our home, took extra water and a couple of protein bars to eat for lunch. The weather was beautiful but a little warm later in the day. It got close to 90 and that is hot here in western Washington during September. 

This is some of the older building that have been remodeled.

The fair these days is way to commercial. I think they are trying to bring back some of the old flavor, but with all the product hocking and such and commercial booths and such it is just not the same. I know things never stay the same, but there is a large grandstand there and just one stage in front of the main section where they bring in NAME entertainment. The same folks generally that you can see at any Indian casino these days except at the fair you do not have to buy a dinner but the tickets are just as expensive in the end. 

As the fair looked in late 40s and 50s

In the good old days, yes I know I am talking like and old man because I am, but anyway. They had horse racing around a track. Really some of the best jockeys on the west coast rode there and some got their start there. The track is gone. At each fair performance there were three races and it was exciting to make a bet with your girlfriend or whomever to just see  who would win. There was a rodeo each night. They would have the main rodeo events, like bronco busting, roping, and bull riding. My Dad even enter events there.  Between these events they had high wire acts, and other circus type things even clowns. It was just more fun and unique not just like everything else you can see on TV these days. They still have a small rodeo on a couple of days but it is nothing compared to what they used to have. 

The building on the right is like
 most of the many new buildings

Dahlia display

Like I said the track is long gone, and the fair has been  remodeled and built up in such a way I doubt it could ever be brought back to the way it was. Even some of the things Jackie and I loved like the flower exhibit and Jackie’s favorite tole painting is no more. We used to get our Dahlia bulbs there each year, but no more.  Plenty of junk food places with all kinds of crap to eat. Nothing that I saw was really good for a person. And look at the people there. I used to be one and so I should not be so critical, but really there were people there who could  hardly walk and were using devices to help them get around because they were so damn fat. I bet one woman I saw in kind of a cart being pushing by some guy weighed over 500lbs and was in the scone line to get some of those fattening things. I felt like stopping and telling her about WLS but I kept my mouth shut. And the little buggies that others were driving around. There were actual traffic jams of these battery operated things. Seems like there were hundreds of them. Couple them with the baby strollers and you could hardly get around the grounds. Some of the folks in the scooters would have benefited from walking, maybe some of the fat would have been walked off. 

I got this photo off the Internet

I do not want to make fun of this

man, I use it to show you the type 

of scooters used not to disrespect

this person, I would not do that.

Anyway we did the “PUYALLUP”. That is what folks here call it. I did not eat anything that was not on my plan and to tell you the truth I didn't want to. The smell of some it made me kind of sick. We stayed until about 1:30 because we had other things to do that day. All in all we had a good time, but probably will not go back for a few years because in our minds it is not getting more fun just getting like going to a mall to buy and eat junk. We have moved past that stage in our lives.