The Albemarle County Fair is on. Though as Christina Tkacik says in today’s Progress, the heat isn’t real conducive to attending the fair, I say that just means you need to get another Sno Cone and hop back onto a fast-moving ride. My wife and I went last night (and I took some rockin’ pictures) and checked out the livestock and produce, did some people watching, played with baby ducks, shared a funnel cake and checked out all of the rides. It’s just 10 minutes south of town. Admission is $6 for adults and $2 for kids. It runs through Saturday.
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16 Responses to “Albemarle County Fair Underway”
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Sideblog
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The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
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foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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No offense to any specific fair or carnival company, but I think you’d have to have a death wish to get on one of those fast-moving rides that is disassembled and reassembled every 2 weeks by a drunk, drop-out carnie who might just as soon reach for a roll of duct tape as figure out where he packed those lag bolts the last time that the ride was moved.
Now that’s what I call a serious run-on sentence.
If memory serves, there is no federal or state regulatory agency that oversees the safety of fair rides. They assemble and disassemble ’em without concern of inspection or standards.
Given that, I guess what’s impressive is that they’re not more dangerous.
We’re going to the fair tonight! Whoo Hoo!
I’m a city kid…never been to one of these things (and have never seen a lot of the animals that will be there in person). I can’t wait!
Thanks for the photos, Waldo!
I’m thinking about going back, maybe tomorrow, to take more photos. That place is a photographer’s dream. Next time I’m bringing my zoom lens, another memory card, a second battery, and a monopod. So many spinning lights, lively people and painted-up attractions…it’s hard to take a bad picture.
In years past the fair was overcome by rain/wind/wet weather. So leaders move the date up 3 weeks and hit upon the blistering week of the year. Is there a way to bet on weather for ’07?
Waldo,
People get hurt or killed on those things all the time. I once met a woman at an insurance convention who specialized in underwriting those rides and it was just one horror story after another. She said that nothing could possibly convince her to get on a carnival ride after the nightmare stuff she’d seen in claims histories and inspection reports.
We had a blast last night! Most of our time was spent with the animals, but we played a few games and rode The Scrambler, my favorite ride (I’m afraid of almost all the others). Yeah, I rode one of the rides. Just call me Danger Girl.
Here’s out photo set of about 95 pictures.
If you go, you HAVE to check out the massive cow that’s in one of the last tents. I had no idea cows could get so big!
I mean OUR photo set. I couldn’t let that slide.
That cow really is huge. I took some pictures of it, but without any object for scale, it just looks like a cow.
Thanks for the pictures!
A perfect example that just happened to be in today’s news:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/593109.html
Exactly the scenario I outlined in my comment yesterday. Your typical ex-con carnie has to disassemble and reassemble the ride every couple of weeks, forgot to put in a metal pin where it belonged and 2 kids fell 2 stories to the ground. Fortunately, they are in the hospital rather than the morgue.
Rides that are safe in permanant amusement parks become much, much more dangerous as part of travelling carnivals.
http://www.rideaccidents.com
(yes, there really is a website devoted to every topic imaginable.)
On a different topic, what the dickens happened to the taco wagon that was at the fair the last couple of years? They had the best tacos I’ve eaten east of the Mississippi. It was basically the main reason to go to the fair, as far as I was concerned. I didn’t see it there today, though conceivably it was hiding behind something.
Oh, and if you think county fair rides are dangerous, they’re nothing compared to inflatable installation art.
I noticed from your photo the Skeeball machines are angled way too steep. They aren’t normally at that high of an angle. I guess the carney games are still the usual rip off.
It’s sad too. I really like skeeball.
Thinking about it, Kempis, you’re right. If I let my arm swing with the ball in my hand, I’d hit the ramp with the ball. You had to either back way up or have the ball hit the ramp pretty far up.
I’m usually pretty good at that game and played three times without getting any prize tickets. I want my $1.50 back.
Once when I was a kid, a guy who was much better than I showed me the trick to scoring the high points. (you have to angle the ball toward the curved section at either the far right or left corner- which if it hits right sends it arching toward the center circles). The steepness of those tables ruins that dynamic.
All the skeeball arcades I ever played at (theme parks mostly- and a Chuck-e-cheeze’s once as a kid). The ramps are almost flat like a bowling ally, with the only angled part of it being the section of the table with the circles/hoops to catch the ball. The fact the attendant in the photo is able to sit at the edge of one and have it look as if he’s almost standing I’d call further evidence.
I guess yu’all enjoyed wheelin’ and squealin’. Can’t beat that for a night of fun.