Alaska State Fair — Attraction in Palmer

I'll divvy my review up to several categories: the food, the rides, the booths, the foot traffic, the bathrooms, and overall cleanliness of the fair. Starting with the food. The food at the Alaskan State Fair is what you would expect of any state fair, festival, or carnival. Most of what you would eat are loaded with sugars, fats, and oils/greases. Albeit the foods are not the healthiest, they aren't necessarily horrible in taste. The best treat to get yourself here is more than likely the Dipping Dots or the Hawaiian Shaved Ice. The service for food and drinks here is usually not too long, although, it depends on how busy they really are. They're usually pretty fast. The rides were all jam packed with riders, and the lines were of decent size (certainly not Disney Land sized). I would prefer if they cleaned the rides regularly, but they leave it as it is unless a noticeable mess is made of things. The ride attendants were pretty friendly as well, but the low selection of truly thrilling rides makes the rides here sad. The only ride worth going on is "The Slingshot", a ride that shoots you up into the air at speeds of up to 100mph and up to 275ft in the air! That's around 13% of Mach 1 speed! A handful of other amusing rides, but able to thrill still, are the Apollo, the Gravitron, the Hang Gliders, the Tornado, the 101 Knights, and the newly introduced roller coaster. The foot traffic was actually better this year than it has been previously, although, it was still horrendous. If there was an easier way to direct foot traffic, it would have been better, although, it was nothing too bad. The bathrooms were overcrowded and always seemed to have a line. Paper towels, toilet paper, and water covered the floors, but it's not a realistic idea to think that attendants could deal with cleaning the bathrooms with so many people constantly going in and out of them. The overall cleanliness of the fair was... well, it had me desiring for something different. There was a decent amount of trash per person there, and none of it would be picked up until the fair closed for the day. I have no problem with cleaning it all up at the end of the day, however, I feel that allowing the trash to hang around all day provides the elements, particularly the wind, with the perfect opportunity to fly away from the state fair grounds, polluting the surrounding environment.

Overall the Alaska State Fair was an enriching experience and I would recommend anyone who visits or even lives here to go at least once. Ticket pricing can be an annoyance, but that's the only real downside of going. I would have liked to see more mask regulations or enforcement during COVID, but I suppose...

One simple phrase tells it all... shrinkflation at higher prices. Ride tickets have gone up in price of course and that's all well and good if you feel like standing in line for 2 hours for a 3 minute ride. I've lived up here for 34 years - this year in particular, it's a reach to call the Alaska State Fair, a fair. The food kiosks for example have gotten a lot more expensive considering what you get is a lot smaller compared to years in the past. You know how we all love to pay more For Less. They barely have animals anymore in the indoor arena. The reptile display they have with the snakes, lizards, turtles, and even a few amphibians such as the frogs, heartbreaking. For example, there is this individual with a baby alligator, I will guess probably 2 and 1/2 3 ft long. Taking money for pictures with this alligator. The issue is the state of the alligator. That poor reptile had to have been drugged or mildly tranquilized, for people to take pictures next to it. The reason I make this claim is because I do own lizards and snakes. This baby alligator, when I first saw it, I literally thought it was fake, because of the lack of movement, the lack of stimulation, coupled with the lack of caring provided to this baby alligator. I stood off to the side just to observe the Handler and how they were taking pictures and at first legitimately wanted to see if it was fake or real because this poor thing was barely even moving. All for these ignorant humans entertainment, without any care to this poor animal. Picture after picture person after person with this poor reptile pretty much being treated like an object. I'm not against people taking pictures next to or near mammals or reptiles that they don't typically get to see on a regular basis or in some cases ever. However when the animals well-being is put on the back burner, and obviously mildly tranquilized or even drugged, for a damn picture just downright makes me sick. The sad topic about the animals inside, the merchandise kiosks are nothing like they used to be, your options are very limited, and of course prices are exponentially high. What an utter disappointment, as well as heartbreaking when it comes to the way I witnessed these animals being treated. The one and only good thing about the fair this year was the Killswitch Engage concert. I'll say two things the concert and the demolition derby. Everything else is so disappointing and not worth the money. I really hope 2024 Fair will be an...

The wife and I have sworn an oath to never go see another State Fair concert event potentially forever. We attended a highly regarded and highly desired event last evening, the "Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keeler". For starters, the offer on the ticket sales website, to the best of my knowledge, did not offer a package deal for fair admittance along with the purchase of the tickets. I am not complaining that I was required to pay the entrance fee to fair to see the event. But, there should have been some kind of offering for an event package. Yes, a deal. That's just the tip of the iceberg for my review. Garrison Keeler and the Prairie Home Companion was as good as I had hoped for...but the event was managed very poorly. It appeared to be way over sold for the venue for starters. The venue was not accommodating the number of people that bought tickets and the gates opened way too late to let everyone into the event. My wife and I, along with many astonished and disgruntled event goers, were still in this horrendous line for what seemed like forever, well passed the 1st 15 minutes after the show had already started. Was anyone in the events management considering the demographics of the age group of a show such as Prairie Home Companion. Don't you think that there was this huge potential that a lot of elderly people, who were unable to stand or sit "criss-cross apple sauce" for this 2 1/2 hour. Really?? Sound quality of the event: so we eventually find a place to view the event which was "standing room only" along the edge of the auditorium rails, with easily another 150 to 200 other people that were doing the same, and we couldn't hear the show very well and there was a carnival event that was playing music that was completely overwhelming the audio of our show. I am not very happy at this point and now very displeased with our experience. My complaint is aimed solely at how mismanaged this event was and do not in any way blame "Garrison Keeler and The Prairie...