Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair

While many foodies took time out of their day to clean out their refrigerator for national Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, I had my own interpretation of cleaning out the refrigerator. Don't ask why did I decide to clean out my refrigerator before attending the fair. My goal was to relive a moment of my childhood by eat everything in sight at the fair. Things didn't go as planned. Once we got there I realized I was no longer that kid who could eat all of the fair favorites and hop on every single ride. All it took was one delicious Pineapple Drink from Island Delights to fill me up. Not to mention, I received a refill with the purchase of the pineapple drink. Man oh man.... the state fairs are not like the old days. They're now modernized with the addition of local food trucks.

This year will be our last traditional visit. It's sad but time to say goodbye to this experience. I've been coming to this fair since I was in middle school and it's been the background to a lot of great memories and smells. However, this year I felt like the fair had reached its tipping point and myself and my niece will need to visit other fairs or find new traditions.It's really expensive, which isn't new. $10.00 entrance fee, $20.00 all you can ride bracelet, $5.00 parking. So for 2 people to enter and be able to experience rides it's $65.00 off the top. This year 4 rides weren't in use when we visited. Some of the other rides were unclean and the attendants did not inspire confidence. Fair food is gross but comforting and actually difficult to mess up but they messed up the funnel cake. I mean ... what??? Of course we all know you are paying way too much for any food you buy but it's part of the experience. It was part of the experience, until this year. The other patrons who attended seemed a little rough. People screaming at each other, skipping line, and lots of rough housing. Rides looked like they might not meet inspection or broken. Questionable food safety with food preps not washing hands and grimy prep conditions. Poor quality music entertainment. All in all it's just not worth it anymore.

Every year Greenscape has a tree give away to the public! How cool and shady is that! Now the trees are tallish, 4-5 ft but not real full...yet- you have to take them home and plant them! They have interesting vendors too-Claire White Mission with fresh produce and home made desserts. Plant vendors have more trees, flowering bushes for sale, educational books, natural gourds-decorated, Master Gardeners are here for your gardening questions, Sierra Club, landscape designers and honestly...more! If you are interested for next year around this time look on their web site or the paper for the announcement!This time I was at the fairgrounds building for the Honey Bee Festival! Had lots of people coming with interest! Building was good for this....but it did get a little warm inside; don't know if it was the A/C or so many people- in and out!?!

For the past decade I have tried to avoid the Jacksonville fair and attend the Clay County fair - Due to the amount of crowd and having to deal with the landing parking. That's what I remembered at least. Fast forward to 2018 and we have a little one that's almost 2 years old so why not. We arrived and there was a parking building located across the street. $10 wasn't bad especially for covered parking. We were here on a Saturday and there was a ton going on. From shows to school performances and of course the Agriculture area. You could skip the rides and still have a lot of keep yourself entertained by just paying the entry fee. If you do plan on riding any mechanical rides I would recommend getting the unlimited pass. My wife wanted to take our son on the Merry Go Round and that was 4 tickets which is $4 since each ticket is a buck. What's even worse is that my wife had to have tickets to get on there and hold him - So it was $8 for a single ride. I guess they have to make their money somehow. If you are paying by credit or debit it's a minimum purchase of 10 tickets per transaction. So bring cash. The concessions were not that bad either. Less than stadium pricing. A funnel cake set us back $7. A bottle of water was $1.50 and they had beer on tap for $4 or wine for $5. If you bought their tumbler for $20 the first alcohol fill is free and each fill after that is still the same price, however you get an additional 4 ounces. Cash only for alcohol. Overall we had a really good time and will be back next year for sure. I would recommend coming early if you have little ones or don't want to deal with the large crowd. When we were leaving we noticed that the parking area was packed to the point where people were having to park at the top. There's no elevator in this building so it's a nice long walk down the stairs or floors if you have a stroller.

Had a great time this year and took a different approach.... took in some shows like the Alligator show, the piglette race and the mini circus. We had a wonderful unexpected meal....Steak bits with mashed red potatoes and mushrooms..... one word FILLING!!! We walked around and people watched as I drank an IPA . Parking was cheap Didn't ride anything this year...because I can't fit LOL.

Each year I anticipate the fair!?. Don't get it twisted it's not for those nausea-inducing rides by the way I haven't been able to find any of those lately , in fact the fair has shrunk. Each year my crew and I pay the $10 parking,the admission fee,just to watch how the rides are disappearing and how our favorite fair food is becoming more and more difficult to find.I guess I am showing my age but that's okay. So rather than give a review of the rides and the huge jumbo turkey legs and how the chicken on the sticks grow larger and larger each year,, I will share the other part of the fair. The non-agricultural part of agricultural but not the hogs and pigs and the cow manure. We head straight for the 4-H and senior citizen crafts and plants. This year the home extension ladies made wonderful jams and thank goodness they had samples to taste. The Banana Jam,yes, tastes just like a soft ripe fragrant banana so I bought a jar. Then there was the blueberry lemon that made my mouth go yum! So I bought that jar as well. My crew stopped me as I started down the line tasting each of the 10 samples. I left jams so you all can try some and buy some. Remember to try and make a radish necklace... Interesting.

I had only been to the fair once as a kind & never really cared to go back. My recently relocated husband was all about experiencing local Jacksonville so when we got a craving for corn dogs, we knew where we had to go to get a good one.We didn't 'waste' money on any of the rides, but the people watching and the dog show was a fun inexpensive date for a Friday night. And the deep fried Snickers we shared was a fun way to end the night.

I was very upset that they actually charge for parking! I've been to many fairs which haven't ever charged I get it for use of garages to charge but they need to have an area where you can choose not to pay. Second why the heck do i have to end up paying $3-$7 to get a drink since they don't allow drinks in and there's no water fountains around. They seem much more to be trying to milk people so people with several children and on a budget can't even attend. they make deals for certain days that just end up the same price ex. free entrance still pay $25 for bracelet, $20 dollar bracelet but now you pay entrance of $5-$10. porta potties are exactly what i expected "gross" but for the actual bathroom to look the same was definately worse. obviously the fair rides are always fun but the overall management is poor.

The fair is always fun,..but they added some new rides and attractions this year! reat for kids!! The NOJOES Clown Circus was awesome...18 items can be found on a stick,...from fried butter to pork chops....this beats my previous record of 17 items on a stick,....yes i ate the butter!!!!

We had a great time yesterday,, got there at noon and there were no lines,,, kids were able to ride all the rides they wanted, Pig races were a hoot and being able to walk around and see all the farms animals was great, all the farmers and their kids where super nice and helpful answering my kids questions.. been coming here since I was a kid and it is a great family value with the unlimited ride bands... they have a lot more rides for the 6 and younger kids,, which was nice to see