The Washington State Fair draws thousands of people to Puyallup every single year. It’s one of the largest fairs in the world, bringing in big name musicians, tons of rides, and plenty of fun games. We recently hit up the fair for a mid-week, get-out-of-the house, out-of-the-ordinary date night, and we had a blast.

The Washington State Fair is easily the largest fair in Washington, and it’s been happening here for more than 110 years. The Washington State Fair hosts two events a year; one in April and another in September. The fair in April (known as the Spring Fair) is the shorter of the two fairs, lasting only four days. The fair in September is the REAL Washington State Fair, and it lasts a whopping 17 days.

Tim and I both grew up going to local county fairs, so we were really pumped to check out the Washington State Fair and re-live our childhoods a little bit. We were most excited for the games, animals, food and rides!

There are a few different types of rides at the Washington State Fair.  The Midway Rides offer your classic fair rides like the Zipper, Orbiter, and Sea Dragon. Sillyville offers more kid-friendly rides with the Gator and Kiddy Whip. The Washington State Fair also has an antique merry-go-round and a few extreme rides, including two large roller coasters and the Extreme Scream (a tower launch ride that goes 20-stories in the air and plummets straight back down).

The Washington State Fair also offers up plenty of classic carnival games. From Piggly Downs to Shoot Out the Star, the fun never seems to stop.

Tim and I also really enjoy checking out all of the different farm animals at the fair. We saw giant bunnies, loads of sheep, curious and stubborn goats, and plenty of cows. In fact, one of the cows we saw had given birth to a calf just minutes before we got there. The fair also has horses, miniature horses, dogs, and pigs. We love walking through the barns and talking to the kids who raised the animals. It’s neat to hear how proud they are of their hard work.

Nothing says a county fair more than fair food, and the Washington State Fair does not disappoint. There is literally every type of fair food you can imagine, including BBQ, corn dogs, hot dogs, burgers, curly fries, onion rings, funnel cakes, elephant ears and more! One of the most famous treats are the Fisher Scones. They’ve been serving the scones at the fair since 1911.

While we enjoy the rides, games, animals, and food, the Washington state Fair has so much more! The fair brings in big musical acts and entertainers every year, including Chicago, Kane Brown, Zac Brown Band, and Pentatonix (to just name a few). There is also a rodeo, laser shows, comedy acts, local musicians, and even cirque shows.

Our only complaint about the fair is how expensive it can get. We had free admission into the fair, but we still spent about $70 on our date night. This included parking, two rides each, one game each and dinner (two bratwurst, onion rings, two Fisher Scones and a bottle of water). It added up pretty quickly and we feel like we didn’t go overboard with the things we wanted to experience. In fact, we would have loved to play more games and take a spin (literally) on a few more rides.

Even with all the money we spent, we had a great time on our date night. The night was packed with a lot of laughs. We are already talking about going back next year.

Have you ever visited the Washington State Fair? What’s your favorite thing to do there? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave your comments below or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Don’t forget to also check out Seattle Bloggers for more awesome events happening in the Pacific Northwest.

If you’re looking for other fun date nights, be sure to check out our day trip to Bainbridge Island, our stroll around Fremont, our holiday date night in Bellevue, or our Chihuly Garden & Glass date night in Seattle, and so many more.