Arapahoe County Fair

We have lived in Colorado for four years and had not yet taken the "Pickles" to a single county fair. It was time.

There are many county fairs all within a short driving distance from our house in Aurora. We live in Arapahoe County so that's the fair we chose to attend this year.

The view from the ferris wheel. There's not much beyond the fairgrounds except wide open spaces.

The Arapahoe County Fair had an "all-inclusive" price...one price included admission and unlimited rides. $10 (plus a $2.25 per ticket "convenience fee") if you purchased pre-order tickets online, or $15 at the gate (the pre-order tickets could be used for any ONE of the 4 days of the fair's duration). While this isn't a good deal for those who don't ride much (or can't ride at all), the "Pickles' were able to ride their favorites over and over (and over) again.

The price also included admission to things like the 4-H shows, rodeos, tractor pulls, mutton bustin' (for the kids under 50 pounds), demolition derby and all concerts.

A thunderstorm moved overhead in the middle of the day so we all shuffled inside to view the 4-H exhibits. Once it had passed, we stepped outside and saw a brilliant rainbow over the arena!

Food is always a budget-buster at a fair so we had planned ahead and packed some snacks and bottled water. We had agreed that we would buy some "token fair food" because one of the best experiences about a county fair is the food, but we would keep the purchases to a minimum. We got sticker shock when The Boy announced he wanted a turkey leg and we saw they were all $10 each. Needless to say, he didn't get a turkey leg. We each got a (small) corn dog and split a "family-sized" funnel cake. It was about the size of a medium-sized pizza!

I wanted to stay long enough to catch at least a portion of the Rodeo. A couple of other drizzly showers passed over us but The Girl got a thrill from seeing all the horses, she was able to participate in the "Boot Scramble", and a new rainbow formed behind the rodeo arena.

Getting ready for the "boot scramble"

Coming from North Carolina, we were used to the large Dixie Classic Fair (the second largest agricultural fair in North Carolina) that would run for 10 days and had a huge Midway, multiple entertainment stages, tons of agricultural contests and exhibits, loads of food vendors and hundreds of local businesses touting their products and services. It took several visits to see everything that fair had to offer.

The Arapahoe County Fair is tiny in comparison but comparing the two fairs really wouldn't be, um, fair. I do have to say it was nice to wander around without worrying about crowds. It was faster to get food. The wait for rides was very short. And while I missed the wide range (and massive quantity) of exhibits the Dixie Classic Fair has to offer, it was nice to be able to take our time looking at all the crafts and foods and produce on display at the Arapahoe County Fair without worrying that we were going to run out of time and "miss something". We were at the fair for about 8 hours and saw a good portion of everything available to see and do.

For more information about the Arapahoe County Fair, visit their website at ArapahoeCountyFair.com.