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We decided to stay an extra night in Dallas as we discovered that the Texas State Fair was opening on the 29th and goes until 22nd October.
If you are not familiar with the State Fair concept - it is like the EKKA or the Royal Easter Show but bigger, after all, everything in Texas is BIG. The State Fair has been going since 1886 and celebrates the culture and spirit of the Lone Star State.
As it was the opening day of the Fair we expected it to be busy but we hoped the drizzling rain might keep some of the crowds away. We got to the Fair Park without any delays but found the traffic was banked up to get in the entry gate, this took about 30 minutes. After $10 parking fee and $14 entry each (senior's rate) we were ready to explore.
The Fair offers hundreds of family-friendly activities, thrill rides on the Midway, livestock shows, an expansive auto show and entertainment on the Chevrolet Main Stage. The Food Hall was huge and the variety of food was amazing - as long as you like fried food. All food and activities were accessible only with the use of coupons - no cash transactions. Coupons started at $10 for 20 and a corn dog would cost 12 coupons - not a cheap day out for a family although you could get a Family 4-Pack which included 100 coupons for $99 if you bought it online.
We spent the next 5 hours wandering through the Midway (Side Show Ally) trying to avoid the sprukers hoping to part you from your coupons in exchange for a stuffed toy. We visited the animal pavillions and saw pigs, Llamas and goats, one of the pigs was separated from the rest as it was huge and would not have fitted in the normal sized pens. We were a bit surprised to see 2 kangaroos and 2 emus in the Children's Zoo along with a giraffe, 2 zebra, 2 ostriches, camels and assorted cows and horses.
Along with the agricultural displays there were 2 huge buildings set aside for the car show but the only motor bike we saw was a 1917 Indian with side-car on display in the State Building. The Cotton Bowl Stadium is also located within the Fair Park but we discovered that it is only used a few times a year for football and mostly used for High School games - seemed like a waste of a spectacular facility.
By 4pm we were just about walked out so decided to call it a day. We decided to go to the Stack House for an early dinner as it was close to Fair Park. The Stack House is a hamburger restaurant part owned by Ben Spies. Ben was AMA Superbike Champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008, World Superbike Champion in 2009 riding for Yamaha and rode in MotoGP from 2010 until 2013 when he retired because of injuries. Several of his autographed photos are on display along with a set of his racing leathers. The food was delicious but we were a little surprised that there was not more memorabilia on display.
We returned to our hotel to do the washing and prepare for the next part of our trip.
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