State Fair of Virginia — Local services in Ashland

As for the rides and attractions, it was a “ehhh” fair, nothing spectacular. But the prices for admission and rides, the games, the food and venders, it wasn’t worth it…unless you have about $600 to blow for a family of four! And that’s eating one time and letting each of your kids play one game and getting them the ride wristband. It’s literally comparable to Kings Dominion in price not venue!!! There is very minimally seating in the ride area to possibly enjoy the overpriced food. One regular French fry and 3 lemonades…$38!! $10 to shoot one basketball in a game or to play the water shooting game!! Ridiculous!! Definitely not a time to have to tell your kids”no” because they were invested as soon as you walk thru the gates. SMDH It was so crowded, people were getting sick from the heat, due to there was no flow of air because people were shoulder to shoulder or closer! There really should be a cap on how many tickets they sell! But they won’t do that because they would be cutting themselves short of their dollar!💵 The amount of people that were there was insane! I bet the Fire Marshall or Health Department didn’t do any inspections there! Had there been a serious medical emergency in the park area or in the parking lot/field, I hope God was there to help that person because getting fire or EMS to them would’ve been a better magic trick then what you may have seen in their circus show! Speaking of 🤡 clowns!!! It took us almost 3 hours to just get out of the parking lot when we were leaving. And I guess because everyone was tired, hot, irritated or just plain IGNORANT, you couldn’t pull out of the parking lane into the exit lane (where they were sitting for hours) because people didn’t have the common decency to let one car in. Just one car people. And these same ignorant people were yelling at the employees directing traffic. I mean full-on screaming matches!!! One good thing I seen was a strong presence of Virginia State Police, in and out of the park area. Other than the police, that was the only good I seen. I won’t be back but I’m sure my $400 won’t stop that show! I will keep my money in my pocket next year and every year after...

Overall, I would go again, just with much lower expectations and a bigger budget.

The food choices weren't stellar. Many stands were just copies of others. $4 for a 20 oz bottle of water was outrageous. Everything was ridiculously overpriced. Everyone charged you a convenience fee that varied wildly from booth to booth for using a card. A fee that they added manually. The food itself wasn't amazing, which was a letdown because to get anything, you waited 30+ minutes at most places. The piña coladas and arepa place was on top of their game, though! Shot out to them for having everything ready to go and tasting delicious!

There is almost nowhere to sit and eat at this fair. Or just sit and rest for that matter. I saw like two or three benches the whole time I was there. There are very limited restrooms as well. The restrooms were very clean, though!

The circus they had was awesome! You really felt a part of something. Everyone was laughing and cheering and clapping! If you can see it, I highly recommend it!

The parking situation was a disaster. If you did not pay for premium parking, you walked VERY far from the fair to your vehicle at the end of the night because the trams apparently don't run at night when you're leaving the fair.

The way they do rides if you don't have a wristband is a scam like micro transactions in a videogame. You X number of points for $20. Then a ride costs X random number of points. It leaves you trying to do math in a place not conducive to doing so. Buy an unlimited wristband, don't get scammed.

Moral of the story is buy everything you can online before you go and save some time and money that you can then spend in the fair: tickets, ride wristbands, and premium parking. Bring cash to pay for everything because the safer, more sanitary, and convenient way costs you more.

Bring a folding camp chair or a wagon if you think you might need a place to sit or somewhere to put your stuff. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring a jacket if you get cold easily. I suggest a backpack that's packed with anything...

We almost went home after getting there. As soon as we turned into the fair the state trooper said we couldn't park there we would have to go across the street. He didn't say where across the street so we took a right and tried to go into that gate. The state trooper there started yelling at us and vigorously pointing for us to go away. We tried to tell him that the other state trooper told us to come over here. He continued to yell and told us to go straight. I told him we were going to the fair. He continued yelling at us and told us to go straight. To go straight was away from the fair. There was no one behind us so I don't know why he couldn't of just came over to the car instead of yelling at us to leave. There were five state trooper cars at that spot so he could of came over to help us. So we went straight and then did a uturn. We went into another gate. The people directing the cars pointed for us to go where it said handicapped and away from where it said general parking. The next parking person we encounter said there was a tram that picks you up. The last parking person we asked where the tram was. She said there was no tram and told us just to start walking to our right. We asked how do we get across the street. She said you can't cross the street. I asked how do we get there. She replied under the street but didn't tell us how to get there. We almost got back into the car to leave. So I gave no stars to the parking. The best food truck I gave the stars to was the cinnamon roll truck near the entrance. The made their own dough right there in the truck. They are from Charlottesville. The cinnamon roll was big and so yummy. The games started at $5 and went to $10 depending on how many you wanted to do. In the building the bathroom only had 3 stalls. I did see another bathroom but no one was in line for that one so not sure if it was available. For someone that had never been to this fair it wasn't easy to know where to go. We wouldn't go back. ...