[bgwfreak]

Hey guys,

Last year I went to the SC State Fair and the Cabarrus County Fair. Both were ok I guess for the rides, but pretty standard stuff.

Does anyone know of any really good fairs around here that have a good selection of rides? It doesn't just have to have coasters either.

[KenB]

Reithoffer Shows is doing the Cleveland County (Shelby), Piedmont (Spartanburg) and York County fairs in successive weeks. Reithoffer shows a Wild Mouse on their site, but not sure if that's in the "unit" that's doing those fairs.

Powers Midways is doing the Cabarrus fair, and the Stanly fair the week before that. Looks like both "units" of Powers will be at both fairs. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll have every ride on their site, but it should be most of 'em.

So most of the county fairs around will have rides by one company or the other, so doing the Cabarrus and York fairs would be the closest options, and should have somewhat different midways.

Of course the only one I've been to in recent years was the SC State Fair, when it was done by Conklin and they brought the Doppel Looping, so I can't comment on the other ones firsthand.

Unless it's Doppel Looping, who cares about the coasters anyways? Fairs are for riding flat rides run in "insane mode" by a near-toothless carny with a cigarette dangling precariously from his lips.

Oh, some links:

<a href='http://www.reithoffershows.com/' target='_blank'>Reithoffer Shows</a>
<a href='http://www.powersmidways.com/' target='_blank'>Powers Midways</a>
<a href='http://www.ncagfairs.org/memberfairs.html' target='_blank'>NC Dept. of Ag. list of County Fairs</a>

Couldn't find a similar list for SC.

[evaninmatthews]

Matthews Alive is this weekend, they only have a few rides, though. But its dirt cheap

[swampfox43]

Ahh, great thread. Yes, fair season is here! You can hit the
<a href='http://www.hickoryamericanlegionfair.com/' target='_blank'>American Legion Fair</a>
right now in Hickory. Use to be a Drew Exposition outfit but not sure now. They have the spectacular <a href='http://www.drewexpo.com/rides/major.asp?ID=1' target='_blank'>Seattle Wheel</a>.


I also agree that the Cleveland County Fair in Shelby is pretty good. This is often advertised as NC's largest county fair.

For a list of most NC Fairs:

<a href='http://www.ncagfairs.org/upevents.html' target='_blank'>http://www.ncagfairs.org/upevents.html</a>

[coasterdave]

If we are going to talk about State Fairs then I see no reason to leave out the biggest one of them all, Big Tex.

I am not a huge fan of the traveling portable death rides, but I tend to go every few years to see what I am not missing. We have the NC Mountain State Fair in my neck of the woods. I think we are lucky enough to have some really high class ghetto amusements rides from Playworld Unlimited this year. WIll atleast see the fair when I land from getting back from Texas after riding the Boardwalk Bullet and Over Texas. Yea think I will skip the crap fair again this year.

[bgwfreak]

Thanks guys for the info.

The Shelby fair sounds interesting. I went to Cabarrus county's last year and this year looks to be pretty much the same except for one new ride.


Max, wanna go to the fair?

[Davidtmp]

Anything done in Shelby is good. If you catch it right, go to a Shelby football game on Friday, they may even allow free admission to the fair afterward. Good football in Shelby, always.
I grew up in Cabarrus, so have always tried to get back to my roots and go to the fair. I don't usually ride now, but I have a 4 year old that loves to ride some of the kiddie rides. That really is what they are about anyway. I go to get a nice corndog(best were from Cabarrus Shriners, don't think they have been around since Hugo blew away their booth at the old site), elephant ear, and some roasted corn. mmm,mmm, good. Not sure if Cabarrus allows free admission after games or not now, been so long since I went to HS football games.

[bgwfreak]

No, it's like $7 admission for adults.

It's also at the new fairgrounds/arena thingy.

<a href='http://www.cabarruscountyfair.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.cabarruscountyfair.com/</a>

[Davidtmp]

I didn't think so. Those days were probably long gone. But I actually went to Mt. Pleasant, so I may go catch a football game one of the friday nights if they are home, only a couple of miles from the school. My son would have fun going to a football game, and not spend $45 for a ticket for the Panthers!

[bgwfreak]

charlotte.com posted some nice pics of the Cabarrus County fair from Saturday <a href='http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/galleries/gallery/271864.html' target='_blank'>http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/galler...ery/271864.html</a>

[Jay]

The <a href='http://www.dcfair.com/' target='_blank'>Dixie Classic Fair</a> in Winston Salem is usually a pretty good time. I haven't been in a couple years but I used to remember going every year and loving it. It usually has a similar 'feel' to the State Fair, just on a slightly smaller scale (and its closer to Charlotte! ) I'll definitely be heading there again this year.

[Davidtmp]

Got an email reply after about a week of waiting.......You do get free admission to the fair with the ticket stub of a Cabarrus High School game. I could have done this last week as I went to the Mt Pleasant/Central Cabarrus football game but decided to take the kids to the fair on Sat when we had more time. Oh well, just some info for ya guys if you are planning on going to a football game this Friday.

As far as the fair went, I thought it was really good. Seemed to be more rides than before. I rode the catipillar coaster with my 4 year old, just a step to getting him on the Taxi Chase and hopefully Scooby Doo at Carowinds. They have a fun house, mirror maze, haunted house, farris wheel w/gondolas, small drop zone, etc. Get the roasted corn, good stuff. Lots of rides for the kids.

[TheSeaWhippet]

Over the weekend, we checked out the Upper South Carolina State Fair and Cabarrus County Fair.
In a nutshell:

*******************************************

USCSF - $3 Parking (on a very dusty, road; dark, dirt and rocky) $5 entrance fee.
Packed on SAT night.

Showman: Amusements of America

Rides that stood out:

Reverchon Crazy Mouse (Five-car operation)

Eyerly Loop-O-Plane (classic!!!!)

Too crowded to ride anything without looooong waits; unorganized queues

Not very impressed with this one. Not the showman's fault; just a bad location that attracted a rough, less-than-stellar crowd. Saw several arguments/fights. We left after 20 min.


*******************************************

CCF - Free Parking (on nice grass) $7 entrance fee.
Semi-crowded SUN afternoon.

Showman: Powers Great American Midways

Very nice, clean midway. Friendly ride ops. Rides in EXCELLENT shape with vibrant paint jobs!

Rides that stood out:

Chance Zipper (long turbulent ride)

Eyerly Spider (ran well, actually called "Spider")

KMG Freak Out

Larson Ring Of Fire (new topless vehicles -- looked very good)

Flying Bobs (operated without roof - "Flying Bobs" stenciled on each vehicle; peppy DJ )

The Claw ( looks better than it rides, uncomfortable when tilting)

VERY impressed with this fair. Much better than in years past. They need a signature coaster. How about a nice Schwarzkopf Wildcat or that elusive Dopplel Looping that we used to enjoy at the SCSF, Miami Dade Youth Fair and Toronto's CNE ...

Check here for a few photos from the fairs. The LoopOPlane is from the USCSF, while the others are all at the CCF:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7505501@N02/

S & B

[bgwfreak]

^ sounds pretty much like last year on both accounts.

was the mouse a pink one? If so, I don't think it's Reverchone...can't remember the name of the company though.

[TheSeaWhippet]

The Crazy Mouse was yellow and definitely from Reverchon.