Greater Hillsborough County Fair — Local services in Brandon

Preface: This is for the faire, not the festival of lights. Massively overpriced. Don't come, save your money. You'll just be disappointed.

Multiple problems: I paid $33 for 3 adults to get in. I figured it was an armband kind of situation. Nope, that's just to get in.

Get up to the ticket counter, and it's $1.50 for 1 ticket, or $30 for 20 tickets. I figured 20 tickets would be enough for the midway, and maybe some rides for the three of us. Nope.

No midway accepts tickets. Cash only. No ride accepts cash, tickets only.

One midway wanted $10 for a SINGLE SHOT of a basketball. Another wanted $10 for 3 dart throws at a balloon wall.

Finally get to a ride, and it's the only one that isn't rocking or squeaking: The Gravitron / Alien. It's 5 tickets per person per ride. That's $7.50 PER RIDE.

I try some food. Funnel cakes were $8 from one of the vendors. Raw in the middle. I buy some kebabs that looked really good, but tasted like an old meatball? Disappointing.

So I walk around to find other attractions. A rodeo starts to kick off, so we walk up to it and see if we can get it. We get told it's $20 per person, and you have to buy the tickets at the front entrance of the faire. No one told us this, so we walked off. Not spending $60 to see some animals being abused.

Walk into the AG hall to see what kind of projects going on, and talk to the honey / bee keeper people. I start a conversation then suddenly a loudspeaker behind him starts up with an auctioneer blasting something about which animal is up, at a volume we can't speak above. Have to leave that area too.

The magic show started up, so we stood there for about 20 minutes waiting for the host to come out, the show finally starts, then about 5 minutes later the rudest people literally push us out of the way and stand in front of us, completely blocking the view (We were between bleachers that were also full).

The best part of the entire faire for us, was walking through manure and looking at the cows and other livestock they were trying to sell. Pretty sure we weren't supposed to be back there.

This isn't the county faire you knew 20 years ago. It's a scam with flashing lights and a half hour walk back to your car.

Again: Don't come, save your money. Overpriced, subpar,...

Rodeo was horrible , elephant ? Why is an elephant part of a rodeo? Scheduled for 8pm, stood in line at gate for an hour, let in well after 8pm. Got great seats but then lightning was way too bad so after sitting in the stand they announced us to seek shelter for our safety so left stadium and the only shelter is a store that would be over capacity or a giant tent held up with metal rods pointed at the sky so walked to our car for shelter only to be told at tge gate we wouldn't be let back in if we leave. They put wristbands on us when we came in, so what is the purpose of the wristbands? No purpose if you aren't letting us out of a fenced in area. So i said ma'am they told us to seek shelter so we feel safe in our cars. She said no they meant go sit under the tent. Ok so for 1 hr 30 min we stood waiting out a storm. 200 people stood under a tent that had tables chairs for about 20 people. So everyone just stood there. The 8pm scheduled show started at 930, mud was so bad on the field that only 1 out of 20 cowboys could hold onto their own lassos. But hey, the show must go on right? Because they can't afford to give out rainchecks. The sound system was horrible. The speakers across the stadium were not in sync so the echo was do bad you couldn't understand anything anyone said. They kept talking away like the crowd can understand making jokes and we all are spending more time asking each other who heard what than enjoying the show. It's not hard, do a sound check and sync the speakers or turn off all but one speaker cause just the one was loud enough. I've been to a few rodeos in my life and i was never bored but this...

We had heard about the Festival of Lights being held at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds, so we decided to visit the fair on Sunday evening to experience the festive atmosphere.

Upon arrival, we noticed a long queue at the entrance, which was a bit of a hassle as we had to wait quite a while to get in. The ticket price was $30 per person, which we found to be on the expensive side.

Once inside, the fair was beautifully decorated with thousands of twinkling lights, creating a magical and festive atmosphere. It was truly a visual treat for anyone looking to get into the holiday spirit. One of the highlights was the Santa Village, where visitors could click photos with Santa, making it a great spot for families and kids to create holiday memories.

However, the experience leading up to the fair left much to be desired. From the entrance to the parking lot, the flow of cars was extremely slow, moving at less than 10 mph. It felt frustrating and monotonous, especially with an infant in the car. Adding to this, there was no quick exit available, which turned into a major inconvenience for us. Our baby started crying for milk, and despite needing to leave urgently, we had no option but to patiently wait until we reached the parking lot.

While the lights and festive decorations were undoubtedly beautiful and worth seeing, the logistical challenges--long queues, slow-moving traffic, and lack of a quick exit--somewhat overshadowed...