Yesterday we all piled into our car – KLS, JK, her brother DK, YZ and myself – and went to a new fair! Well not exactly new, since it was the 101st year it’s been held, but for us this was our first visit to The Big E.
This is a megafair that is held in Maine and represents six eastern states. And it’s massive! Too big in fact, in that you couldn’t possibly see it all in one day. We were there 6.5 hours (it’s a 90 minute drive away) and probably only saw half of it. But it was fun, and here’s eleven random photos from our visit…
This dude gave a great talk/demo about sheep shearing! Note the other sheep peeping under the door waiting for their haircuts? A sheep fact I learned is that the world record for shearing an adult sheep is 37 seconds!
Here’s J and D after being turned into incredibly disturbing sheep/human hybrids. D is here on an extended stay from Korea and I reckon he was a bit mystified by the USA culture he saw yesterday 🙂
That’s a butter sculpture. It was stupidly large and detailed and I wonder what happens to it when the fair is done? (Yes it’s all carved from real butter and is made and stored inside a refrigerated room.)
It was a hard decision as to whether I would include the Yoda, the Gene Simmons or the Fizzgig Chewbacca/BB-8 (with actual LED eye) carved pumpkin contest entries but this one won mostly because it pushes the envelope (in my opinion) of what a decorated pumpkin can be.
That’s a pig with babies. It was bigger than me! Nearby there were baby goats and chickens and an extraordinary incubator as well as…
insanely big pumpkins! 1440 lbs to be precise! One wonders if the grower of this monstrosity could have snagged two awards if he’d decorated it to look like Jabba The Hutt?!?
A beautiful display of entrants in the honey contest.
There was so much food to choose from. This stand sold 18 inch corn dogs (Pluto Pups, for the Aussies) for $14 but we didn’t partake instead buying…
Turkey legs, gyros, lobster rolls, fries, roasted corn, grilled pork belly, deep fried battered corn, clam chowder, grilled root vegetables, chocolate/strawberry milk and maple coffee. (In addition to various samples.)
The midway was great, with loads of amazing rides. Alas I knew I’d get sick so I vicariously rode them by putting J and D on a few (they’re riding this Zipper in this shot). Damn my motion sickness ><
And finally, some quality airbrushed ride art. There was loads like this example (on a ghost train ride), but the weird lighting meant many of my photos were too dark.
It was a great fair and I feel there was even more amazing stuff we didn’t even see. We’ll return for sure next year, albeit probably on a weekday to avoid the insane crowds!