I had one whole day to myself while in Mobile, and since it was a Saturday I imagined there had to be something that I could find to entertain myself with. I opened the paper and scanned the entertainment section and being a simple girl who likes simple things the
“Greater Gulf State Fair” jumped out at me. Running from October 21-30 and for only a $5.00 entrance fee I knew I could spend a few hours out in the warm sunshine and have a good time.
The Fair was being held at 1035 N. Cody Road, right off of Airport Blvd. I used Mapquest to get directions and determined it was extremely easy to get to.
I decided to go fairly early so I would avoid the late afternoon and evening crowds. I left the hotel around noon and got to the fairgrounds within a half hour. Parking was free and I was able to purchase my ticket right at the front gate. I entered into a large Exhibition Hall where all sorts of vendor booths were setup; handmade jewelry, fudge, local fire and police organizations, the Girl Scouts, pet rescue booths, numerous local businesses and various others. I did notice that
Hidden Valley had a recipe contest going off at 2:30 that afternoon and being a lover of food, I made a mental note to come back to the Hall to check it out.
Stepping out into the sunshine, the first thing I noticed was the petting zoo. Not only were there your requisite goats and other small animals there were also llamas and camels. Only in Alabama would I see a camel at a state fair. It was so cute to see the little kids feeding the little kids (ha ha, get it??) corn kernels from the quarter machines.
Next I walked down the path through all the vendors and animal attractions. Here you had the opportunity see a monster rat, man eating snake, crocodile wresting and the live shark show. There was also more food vendors than I could count; hot dogs, hamburgers, steak sandwiches, Chinese food, Mexican food, candy apples, popcorn, corndogs, cotton candy, pretzels. If you can think of a food at the fair it was there. I myself tried a London broil sandwich. Not the greatest, but edible--but what do you expect from a fair?
After all the vendors I came to the huge midway. This was one of the biggest setups of rides and games I have ever seen. There had to be close to 50 rides setup from the huge log flume to the gigantic slide to the carousel swings to the flip-do-doo. I also passed a haunted mansion and basket ball toss as well as the endless line of shooting, tossing and balloon popping games.
Being able to spend a couple hours among families having a good time was a perfect. I believe this is a yearly event held at the end of each October.
From journal A Week in Mobile, Alabama