By Chaitra Somasundar, Staff Writer
A crowd filled with excitement. Colorful lighting and decorations. Nervous screams from the rides. Children asking their parents to win them stuffed toys. Parents desperately trying to win the biggest prize to make their children happy. Aroma of freshly cooked meat and funnel cakes. Groups of laughing friends.
T-Birds at the State Fair (photo courtesy of Nikita Kothari)
This is the atmosphere T-Birds walked into this weekend as they flocked to the Arizona State Fair in downtown Phoenix. With an entry fee of just $10 for adults and a separate small fee for each of the rides, games and food, the fair included a combination of performances, concerts, rides, games and delicious food. There were several rides like the giant wheel, carousel, roller coasters, and haunted mansions (highly recommended). The several fast food outlets scattered across the arena include pizzas, ice creams, funnel cakes, ribs, turkey legs, burgers and more! Multiple concerts are held during the fair featuring Sheryl Crow, Flo Rida etc.
One of the rides at the Fair (photo courtesy of Nikita Kothari)
When we asked Yuya Ota (MBA ’15) about his experience at fair, he said “Typical American festival food, like fried Oreos or huge turkey legs, I’ve never seen in Japan, were my favorites. And of course games to win huge minions! It was so sure that I was going to win the minion, in reality I just wasted my $100.” While luck did not favor some of us, the games were tailor-made for some others. We asked Roger Sequeira (MBA ’15) about his favorite part of the fair to which he excitedly replied, “The games! Especially the bottle-ring game!” He won plenty of goodies with a mere expense of $35 (including parking, entry fee, food and tickets for the games)!
There are only a few things that we retain as grow out of childhood. One of them is the pure energy and excitement we have for festivities. The State Fair is highly recommended for those who wish to relive some of that. For more information, take a look at https://azstatefair.com.