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.
Tim and me on the Zipper!
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. To get into the September festivities, it costs $12.50 for adults, $9.00 for kids 6-18 and seniors (62+), and it’s free for kids 5 and younger.
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!
The Zipper!
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. Tickets for games and rides cost $0.50 apiece. You can purchase tickets with cash or debit/credit cards at booths around the fairgrounds. Rides require between 7-12 tickets (the extreme rides cost more) and games require between 4-10 tickets.
A bunny.
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.
The Fisher scones.
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 at the Washington State Fair are the Fisher Scones. They’ve been serving the scones at the fair since 1911. The line is usually long, but they’re well worth it. For $1.25, you can get a freshly baked scone slathered in homemade raspberry jam.
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 Carrie Underwood, Alabama, Ceelo Green, Larry the Cable Guy, and Kid Rock (to just name a few). There is also a rodeo, laser shows, comedy acts, local musicians, and even cirque shows. Another big attraction at the fair is Luminasia, a larger-than-life lantern festival. While some of these attractions are free, many of them come at an extra cost. Main stage entertainment can cost more than $100, while Luminasia is $12 per person.
One of the smaller entertainment stages.
Our only complaint about the Washington State 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 at the Washington State Fair. The night was packed with a lot of laughs. We’re 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 Google+. Don’t forget to also check out Seattle Bloggers for more awesome events happening in the Pacific Northwest.
Looking for Mary Larsen that lived in Houston, TX in 1956 and later moved back to Washington where she was from. I am sure she later married and may have changed her last name. She was about 21 years old when she lived in Houston. If you know of such person I would appreciate a reply to my email address. Thanks very much. cteekell@yahoo.com
She had a son at St. Joseph’s Hospital and names him Marion Ralph Whitley
Sadly the puyallup fair has become too corporate focused on profit not allowing private vendors in without huge costs … just look at how few private vendors are inside and outside the walls compared to ten years ago.
My advice, save your money and avoid the fair until they drop their for huge profit mentality.
I live in Oregon now and have taken my son to The Fair a couple of times. He and I are both addicted to Fisher Scones and Marcoes Taffy. This year, it looks like the Marcoes are down to caramel apples…WTF? It costs about $100 to go and one of our top 2 is not available?
The other part is that I am looking for Brian Morningstar, who graduated from Puyallup HS in 1984. He used to make the trek to park cars at The Fair. I hope he is safe, alive and happy.