The fairest of them all: Six fun features at The Great New York State Fair
The sound of screams from ride goers accompanied by the loud chimes of carnival games. The smell of fried foods wafting in the air. The fair must be in town.
Monday marked the last day of The Great New York State Fair and this year marks its 170th anniversary. The fair at the Empire Expo Center, which was originally located on Salina and Ash streets in 1841, attracts hoards of Syracuse University students. Scott Vanderpool, manager at parking and transit services, said for 10 years SU has provided free buses to the fair for students eager to take part in this timeless tradition.
Here are six highlights of the fair’s many offerings.
Cultural flair
Some of the fair’s attractions offered an inside look at Native American culture. At the far end of the fair, the Iroquois Indian Village showcases traditional music, dance, customs and heritage of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois): Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora and Mohawk. At the grassy site, around since 1928, visitors weave in and out of a 17th-century bark longhouse and stop by huts with jewelry, woodwork and other crafts for sale.
Sit on wooden benches surrounding the Turtle Mound stage to watch traditional dances, including the old-style war dance called Smoke Dancing. Dancers stamp and twirl around the stage, accompanied by the piercing chants of three performers and the steady beat of a booming drum,
Farm fresh
Every year, local farmers who raise goats, rabbits, cattle, pigs, sheep and llama, register at the fair to show off their animals in the expansive barns and tents. Visitors get the chance to interact with the animals and taste ice cream, fudge and cheese in the Dairy Products Building. Passers-by pause and gaze at a sculpture made from 800 pounds of butter.
For Christel Axtell, daughter of Cortland farmer Rowland Ripley, annual trips to the fair are routine. This year, 44 Ripley family members gathered in the Dairy Cattle Barn with 18 cows. The family cleans the cows and trims their hair prior to stepping into the ring to walk them in front of the judges, often staying overnight in the barn to take care of the cows.
Axtell said the fair gives them a chance to show the audience, particularly SU students with minimal knowledge of local farms, what farmers do every day.
‘We encourage university students to come and see how much pride we take in our work and our animals, and how much we make sure we give the best products to the consumers,’ Axtell said.
Wild child
For many fairgoers, the fair’s rides and games let them channel their inner child.
‘The rides and the games take you right back into your childhood,’ said Sierra Spechler, a sophomore anthropology major. ‘Going to the fair is America’s pastime.’
Many of the rides, like the giant ferris wheel, are standard fair staples, and Spechler said she especially liked The Sky Flyer, a 98-foot tall tower swing that whirls riders around at 30 mph.
This year, a single, electronic barcoded FunCard replaced the traditional individual paper tickets that could be used on all the rides, according to a press release.
While she enjoyed the rides, sophomore broadcast journalism major Kathryn Banzer, who went to the fair for the first time this year, said she preferred soaking in the atmosphere and playing some of the games. One of her friends won a giant rubber hammer.
‘It was an outrageous, unbelievable and humongous event, nothing like I’ve ever seen before,’ Banzer said. ‘You could probably spend 24 hours there and not get bored.’
Weird and wacky
Amongst all the typical food stands and fair attractions were hidden gems that added some unique alternatives to the mainstream fair. One event was ‘Wild about Monkeys,’ a comedic routine featuring animals such as a bird and two varieties of monkeys. The monkeys were animal celebrities, having starred in commercials such as a Super Bowl ad.
Past the carnival games, students stood with a large, black, four-by-five film camera taking portraits of fairgoers who passed by for a class assignment.
‘We’ve been practicing, and it’s been a lot of fun,’ said Keith Tripler, a junior art photography and television, radio and film dual major. ‘We’ve only had one person say no, and she had to go to work.’
Near the Pan Cultural area of the Art and Home Center was a family building a roller coaster out of pretzels and using a glue gun to hold it together. Many gathered around to watch their progress throughout the day.
In tune
Tunes of various bands and individuals were heard throughout the fair. However, toward the evening were bigger names in the music industry such as Lady Antebellum, The Script and Maroon 5 that attracted individuals to the fair.
Nadine Della Pelle, a sophomore broadcast and digital journalism major, was eager to see Lady Antebellum later that evening.
Growing up in Syracuse, the state fair was always a must for Della Pelle, but the music has changed throughout the years.
‘It’s exactly the same. The only difference is the people, but (the fair has the) exact same feel, but that’s the great part of it,’ she said.
Food frenzy
It isn’t a fair without booths of fattening, deep-fried foods.
For her first time at the fair, Rosa Perez, a junior social work major, had gotten a corn dog and, by the end of the day, she was ready to consume the customary fair food: funnel cake.
But one of the stands, Fried Specialties, went beyond the typical fair food and offered items such as bacon wrapped Snickers, a new item on the menu, said vendor Artie Richardson.
Although they had no strange requests for things to deep-fry, with the exception of fudge, Richardson said every year before the fair they experiment and see what fries well. Then, that item is added to the menu that already consists of deep-fried favorites like pizza and peanut butter and jelly.
But there are other alternatives to fried food, such as taffy. Norman’s Old-Fashioned Taffy, which has been at the fair since the mid-1920s, has sustained itself due to its classic nature, said Penny Nearhoof, a worker of 11 years. The homemade taffy has 11 different flavors ranging from vanilla to banana.
