The Nevada County fair

We went to the Nevada County fair on Friday. We decided against going to the State fair this year because it was too expensive for what the kids would get out of it. And it is a big fair. Really big. We had also heard stories about some of the kids and teenagers there, and we remembered how true those stories were from last year's visit.

So I looked around for other things for us to do as a family, and found the Nevada County fair. It is a bit of a drive from Sacramento (it tooke an hour and 20 minutes to get there; and hour and 45 minutes to get back). But it was totally worth it.

First, it was only $9 for entry and $7 for parking. And they let you take in all your food. In fact, people take in so much food that they have covered picnic spots all over. That was very nice. Second, it is smaller, and very family oriented. They have face painting and all kinds of kids stuff for cheap or free. It is very family oriented. We loved it.



Of course our kids had to eat soon after we got there. That was fine. We put them in the stroller with snacks and meandered our way to the horses. The horses were great. No one cared that we stopped by every horse (in and out of stalls) and petted them. We talked to them all. The owners all came up and talked to use about the horses and Nicholas got a bunch of his "why" questions answered by the owners (somehow, he didn't want me to answer them).



Then we went to see the cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and rabbits. Everyone was super nice and let Nicholas pet anything he wanted to. They had some saddles sitting on hay bales that the kids could get on and use ropes to rope sawhorse bulls. Nicholas had a blast. I finally got a good picture of them both where they are looking at the camera.



The US Forest Service and CalFire all had fire trucks there. There was a nice young man who was a CalFire firefighter that talked to Nicholas for a LONG time. He put Nicholas up on the fire trucks, showed him where the wheel and horns and sirens were. Answered a TON of questions like, "Why are fire trucks red?" He was very nice and very good with kids. I am continually amazed how good firefighters are with kids. Although I guess they see a lot of them.

It was a great fair. They had a dog show that was great. After the dog show we had some meltdowns by both kids and decided to leave. On our way out we got cotton candy and some cold water and only spent $4! I mean, you can't do that at bigger fairs.

It was a blast and I am glad we went and will totally put it on the calendar to go next year too.