Heart of Illinois Fair — Local services in Peoria

I wish I could have gotten the fair that these reviewers grew up with. Instead, I drove 3 hours for what the website totes as a huge ol event. I arrived & immediately checked I had the right place. There wasn't a single ride. An unattended petting zoo, a couple bounce houses for the handful of kids there.

The 'market' looked like a science fair exhibit & wasn't even open as promised. I just peeked in & no one was in there. Don't get me started on the 'animationic zoo' & they had the audacity to charge an extra 10 bucks for. I would've paid 10 bucks for them to shut off the robo animals.

The only redeemer was the food stand was a 10/10. My fiance wanted CARNIVAL grade corndogs, which was what kicked off planning our trip to begin with. At least we got that. We had more fun improvising our stay in Peoria than we would have staying at the festival as planned.

By all means, come to Peoria because there's a lot of good to be seen & had. Just skip this festival & CERTAINLY don't plan around it as I did. It is absolutely not represented properly on their official site & Peoria should look into either updating the page or taking it down.

Don't blame the economy, the government, or my favorite 'nobody wants to work' when nobody shows up next...

Prices are down right retarded. My kids loved it and ultimately that's what matters. Then again, their 4 and 5-their easily amused. When they said kids under 6 were free I assumed that meant for rides not to simply walk in the enterance in order to get to the rides. I appretiated that they had rides they could ride though, and quite a few of them. Wasnt worth 6 bucks to have them ride one once or even the unlimited amount for 45 for one day. I also appretiated that they made the games easier and my kids got to go home with...

A perfect mix of fun, education, music, and great food for the whole family. They have live entertainment in the evenings. The days are full of shows and exhibits coupled with really good food choices and plenty of shady spots to enjoy your food or rest in. Gotta love the lemonade shakeups and cotton candy. Carnival has wristbands for unlimited rides. Perfect place to spend the day...