Virginia State Fair Review

An insider’s review on the famous Virginia State Fair.

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Thomas McLaughlin

This was the most beautiful part of the fair. It really shows the vibe and aura at the fair.

This ride resembles the Super Nova which spins around and around really fast. This was my favorite ride at the fair.

The lights were bright, the music was loud and fun was being had; 2019 was an awesome year at the Virginia State Fair.

This year, the State Fair was located in Doswell, a small town about an hour and a half from Washington D.C. Overall the state fair was a very fun time, but there were some pretty aggravating things that happened to the attendees there.

The vibe at the Fair was fantastic.  They were playing good, catchy music that made everyone feel good and energized. The colors of the fair were beautiful. It was filled with bright lights and colors that made the rides look they were built by aliens, and the food stands look like something that would be out of a science fiction movie. The lines were very long for everything, but standing in line was still fun because attendees could watch people playing games or the people riding the rides.

The ride in the middle resembles the Hydra. You can see that it is swinging back and forth just like the Hydra did.

The best ride there was the first one any visitor sees when you enter the park. It was called the Super Nova. It is a really fun ride that twists and turns very fast, moving at a 90-degree angle. People on the ride were laughing and screaming, and when they got off they continued laughing and talking about how fun it was.

The second-best  ride at the park was the Hydra, a ride where you sit on a big pendulum that swings back and forth. The attendees who got off of the ride looked like they had had fun, but not as much as they did on the Super Nova.

Some people enjoy the challenge of playing a basketball game where they are given two shots and have to make them both to win a basketball jersey. It was a pretty big waste of 5 dollars because they missed both of the shots. Lafayette Senior Jack Nice, who attended the State Fair, alleged that the basketball game was rigged. Nice is a basketball player for the Lafayette Rams and he claims that the rims looked a little smaller than regulation size. He also noted how rude the lady was that was working the basketball game. “She kept on telling me how terrible my shots were, and it made me want to play again to prove her wrong.  But I didn’t because  five dollars is a waste if you only have two shots.”

another interesting game was a one where you had to throw a baseball at a beer bottle, and you only won something if you broke two bottles. One fair-goer hit two bottles perfectly and they still didn’t break. Lafayette senior Adam Lesenger played the game, and said that he hit the same bottle twice right in the middle and it didn’t break. He suggested that the some bottles might be fake and only a couple are real.

Nice and others agreed that every game at the fair was a waste of money. Attendees who played them  rarely won. Each game clearly has technique that you need to win, but no one knows it except the workers there and they never tell what it is.

This resembles the basketball games at the VA state fair which were 100% rigged.

Right next to the baseball games was the scariest ride at the park, a was huge ride similar to a Ferris wheel but with only two carriages. This is where the most grievances are lodged with regard to problems at the Fair. On the website one can buy the all-access ride passes, which leads you to expect to ride every ride. What some of the attendees did not know is that for this ride you could only go on if you had tickets–the all-access pass did not apply.

Many would-be riders found this very upsetting, especially after 45 minutes waiting in line for the ride. The State Fair people need to make the website much clearer when it comes to what the all ride pass is, and which rides have to have tickets.

Another detractor to the whole experience was the parking, which was terrible. It took most people more than an hour to leave the park. The Fair organizers should have hired people to direct traffic, because it was a huge mess. Some people even left an hour before it closed to avoid the problem, and it was still jammed.

Parking at the fair was crowded, resulting in about 45 minutes waiting, sometimes more.

The problem was there at the entrance, as well.  Three miles from the front gate it was all backed up.  Most Fair-goers had to wait in traffic for about an hour before they could even see the exit. In the end, officials had to keep the park open past closing because there was so much traffic, and a lot of people didn’t even get in until after it was supposed to close.

Although there were problems with the passes and the traffic, overall the State Fair was a very fun place to be and it was not too expensive to get in. There was no point where anyone looked bored and wanted to go home. There were so many rides and games to play that it easily took an entire day to take advantage of everything the Fair offered. If you find yourself looking to have a fun day-cation and wouldn’t mind sitting in a little traffic, give the State Fair a try!