Alabama National Fair — Attraction in Montgomery

I was a little disappointed in the fair this year. $15 to get in on the last Sunday, and they didn't even have any major events happening. Not to mention the $3 credit card fee if you didn't bring cash. Every vendor except for Charlie's also charged a fee if you used a debit/credit card. I don't like handling a large amount of cash in such a crowded place, so I brought my card. Seems like they all took advantage of that. Credit card fees are usually a percentage of the total amount, so they definitely profited from the added fees. I'm sure many families weren't able to enjoy this public event because of how expensive everything was. Luckily, I had two small children and my mother paid for my oldest, or we wouldn't have been able to go, either. Seems a little unfair that the whole community can't enjoy this once a year event. I gave three stars because at least everyone was so nice and polite. My son decided he didn't want to ride a ride last minute after they already took the tickets off the card, and they were nice enough to credit them back to us. There are also a few employees that will let you ride with your child on a kiddie ride without taking tickets for the adult who has to ride. That was definitely appreciated, because we couldn't afford wristbands, so our tickets were a precious commodity, lol! I didn't want to spend tickets for an adult to ride a kiddie ride that they wouldn't necessarily enjoy, but we still wanted the little ones to ride as much...

The lady at the ticket entrance ruined my entire first visit. There was a confrontation over my mask, which I was trying to explain that I had another, more appropriate mask to change to, but the lady was yelling at me, shaming me, and threatened to kick me out before I could even get a word in. I have social anxiety, and this was my first time here. My friend and I came all the way from Dothan and were tired, but we looked forward to this. After this incident, which the lady STILL wouldn't leave me alone when I was trying to calm down, I was shaking and upset the entire time there. If she had politely asked and listened to me, I would have changed masks and went on my way with a smile. I had a spare for a reason (I wear the original mask everywhere, but understand some establishments might not allow it). But upon getting there I felt shamed, belittled, and unheard. I will not be going back, but I do wish for improvement and success for this fair's future, and for possible training for welcomers to be nicer to people who might have things they dislike or...

Security almost didn't let me in to the fair because I had a small wallet (the size of a basic iphone) in my pocket that zipped. They claimed since it zipped, it was a bag. I demonstrated that it fit in my pocket, that's where I planned to keep it during my stay, and that all that was in there was cash and some change but they wouldn't make an exception. Finally, a passerbyer took pity on my and let me borrow a ziplock bag she had on her. I put my small wallet inside and security finally let me through. On the other side of security, I gave her back the bag and put my wallet in my pocket.

This was just odd and crazy and a double standard. Why can men bring a wallet in their pocket into the fair but women can't?

This left a major bad taste in my mouth. I won't be returning to the fair or...