I have lived in the state of Indiana for over 18 years now and have only visited the State Fair once in my life. Even then, it was only for about an hour. So this year, my husband and I decided to take our three kids. We figured they would have fun seeing the animals, eating some fair food, and just being outside. I did not imagine how much fun I would have.
I knew we would have some difficulties going: keeping my autistic son with us and not melting down, surviving the heat, and finding healthy foods to eat where my main concerns. Before we went I tried to prepare best I could. I researched and mapped out where they places I wanted to go where, I tried to find food venders that would be better for us and I dressed the family in tank tops and sun screen.
With kids you can be prepared as you want and things will still go wrong. Plans have to change. We were all overwhelmed with the amount of things to see and eat. My kids immediately wanted to try a elephant ear, which I personally love, but I promised them ice cream later from the dairy barn and that satisfied them.
We saw and smelled horses and pigs and cows, oh my! The kids loved seeing the animals. They learned some things about each. Brian even tried to milk a newborn calf but got scared. We visited the Taste of Indiana Farms and Pioneer Village where they learned about farm life from years ago to current. We even saw the Rowdy Rooster Puppet Show, which Sean really liked.
The “Bridges to Japan” exhibit happily surprised us. My husband and I both love the Japanese culture and welcomed the opportunity to learn more. The kids tried their hands at chopsticks, which was just entertaining to watch and I wished I had my camera on me for it.
We ate at the Farmers Market Café and had wonderful salads and sandwiches from local produce. I was surprised that my kids didn’t ask for any of the fried foods, with the exception of the elephant ears. Honestly none of it looked that appealing to us.
I think my biggest disappointment of the fair was actually the food. Here is the perfect opportunity to showcase the local farm grown fruits, veggies and meats to thousands of fair goers. But what does there seem to be more of? Junk.
Fried snickers, elephant ears, Twinkies, burgers, etc. I personally think that this would be the prime time to get the message out to eat more fruits and veggies for local farms. How about a recipe/food competition for the best fruit dishes or veggies dishes? 100 (and 1) ways to eat a tomato?
All in all we spent around 2 ½ hours at the fair before everyone was ready to go. It was a wonderful experience for all of us and we can’t wait for next year. Who knows maybe there will be even more healthy changes to go and see.
Danielle Spears received complementary goods or services from the organization(s) that was the subject of this blog post in exchange for writing this post.
Tags: autism, fair food, healthy eating, Indiana State Fair
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We went through the Taste of Indiana Farms yesterday- it’s become a tradition for my friend and I. We go every year on Farmer’s Day and part of the reason is that event. We were highly disappointed… I was even angry… that the producers representing WHEAT used CANDY as their demo of the wheat industry in Indiana! They were sharing the labels of various candies that have “enriched wheat flour” as a shining example of the use of wheat? And it wasn’t even candy made in Indiana!! Why not have Aunt Milli’es bread- which is free of high fructose corn syrup? Why not have wheat crackers? Why not showcase the actual product? It really irritated me!!
I couldn’t agree more. It seems like it is just another way of marketing to the masses, get butts in the seat… There are great things made of wheat and they completely missed the mark.
It is easy to go into sensory overload at the Fair, isn’t it? Sounds like you guys made some good memories, though. Maybe the kids would like to try chopsticks at home sometime with some fresh steamed or stir-fried veggies? And I would take ice cream from the Dairy Bar over an elephant ear any day!