I'm sure you know by now that I'm from Syracuse, and damn proud of it! With that being said, when I worked for radio doing promotions in Syracuse, I got to work at the fair pretty much every day for them. Let me tell you what, it was a riot!

1. See a concert. I don't necessarily mean a paid concert although those are always good if you can afford it. There are plenty of shows all over the fair for free. The biggest free ones being at Chevy Court.

2. The food! What isn't there at the fair? They have everything: fried pickles, fried dough, deep fried mashed potatoes, Dinosaur BBQ, wraps, alligator, kangaroo, shark, pretty much whatever you could think of!

3. Animals. I am a huge animal lover. They have all kinds of demonstrations involving animals such as horse shows, extreme canines, sea lion splash, a live dairy cow birthing center, and livestock competitions. My favorite animal display is the Eudora Farms petting zoo. I'm a big fan of giraffe's and they happen to have one you can pet there!

4.Rides. The midway has almost every ride and game imaginable! Roller coasters, tilt-a-whirls, haunted houses, Himalaya's, basketball toss, milk cans, and of course, the game where you try to get balls into fishbowls to win a goldfish.

5. Art. Of course they have all kinds of painting and sculptures you can purchase from different areas of the state as well as the country. The most popular two sculptures or pieces of art at the fair are the butter sculpture and the sand sculpture.

6. Shopping. There are tons of little shops and kiosks all over the fair to purchase goods at. They have everything from t-shirts and jewelery to tools and kitchenware. Anything you could imagine, they probably have it.

It would be impossible for me to try and describe all of the things you can do at the Great New York State Fair. You'll have to check it out to see exactly what I mean! The fair goes until September 2nd. Admission is $10 each at the gate and free with a grandstand concert ticket on the day of the show. For more information on the fair click here.

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