Alabama State Fair — Local services in Birmingham

To be fair, I have no idea what state fairs in this part of the country are usually like. But I expected there to be a lot more categories of attractions at a fair. There were no competitions of any kind (farm animals, arts and crafts, largest pumpkin, etc.) and while we really enjoyed all of the entertainment options (magician was fun old school illusions and puns, sword swallowing was amazing, water acrobatics was a good time with a great team of performers, an adorable and educational dinosaur puppetry team, the fair staple of racing pigs and circus acts including several things I had never seen or heard of before) there weren’t any concerts. Something I really missed from the fair back home was the vendor building, with local businesses who all have little booths and give out swag and coupons and have raffles in exchange for signing up for their mailing list. As someone new to the area in a new home I would have loved the chance to learn the names of local businesses like window sellers, carpet companies, even funeral homes. (Okay, I really do remember the year I found out as a high schooler how much cheaper cremation is than a funeral. Where else does a high schooler interact with a funeral home under HAPPY circumstances?) And as a teen on a limited budget, all those free pens, samples (local beef jerky and honey and… mmmm) and other swag was so delightful in comparison to how expensive everything else at the fair is. And the samples helped me justify buying something extra special because it was at the fair. Maybe that never happens. Maybe it’s our postCOVID world. Either way, it was a good time that left me...

Staff was extremely rude from the time you got there. The girl in admission lacked communication skills completely. I wanted to turn around as soon as I got there based on her attitude alone. But I promised the kiddos & had already purchased a Groupon for our admission so here we are. This was my first and will most likely be my last time attending Alabama State Fair based on her attitude alone. She really annoyed me, lol.

Update My kiddos enjoyed themselves very much. They fed and took a picture with a tiger. Had fun at the petting zoo. They didn’t get to see the circus because lines were extremely long. But they enjoyed the acrobatic & dinosaur shows. We didn’t get to try any food because of the long lines. My suggestion would be if you have little ones…10 and younger…go during the week. The weekends seem to be more catered towards teenagers & young adults. I’m changing my review from 1 star to 4. I will give Alabama State Fair another chance. I just hope they’re more selective in staffing in the future. First impressions are everything in business. Also, we didn’t see any sick looking or malnourished animals during our visit. I definitely would not consider going back if we had. Besides the crowd & inability to get a funnel cake,...

DO NOT GO HERE. PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME. Let me start it with a few things. There is nothing to drink except for lemonade .And the lemonade costs 10 dollars to not die in the heat. The weather is HORRIBLE. LITERALLY MELTING. I COULD BARELY STAND IT. Don’t get me started on that one area 52 ride. Literally headache inducing and feels like an oven, I feel bad for the dude that was like operating the ride in the center. Oh and those CARNIVAL GAMES. Those carnival games are overpriced, there was this one game where you had to pay TEN DOLLARS for three darts, you would throw them to the balloons on a wall. You still get a prize if you don’t get any but the prize I got had a hole in the back. I told they guy and he said they were all like that. I DID NOT JUST PAY TEN DOLLARS FOR A TINY PLUSHIE WITH A HOLE IN THE BACK. The prices are outrageous for the games and the food. TWELVE DOLLARS FOR SOME FRIED OREOS TOO. Nuh uh. They could have atleast had some places with air conditioning, since they have us walking in a whole oven on a rocky surface which literally made me almost made me fall more times than I got fingers and toes. “Safe, Clean family fun!” THINK AGAIN. IT IS NOT SAFE, CLEAN,...