I have to say I was slightly surprised when I went to the State Fair this year. Now I wouldn't go as far as saying I was impressed and it's a must for families or friends. My sister and I won free tickets to the fair and reserved seats for The Band Perry Concert off the radio and thought that was a good enough excuse to head that way. We got their around 5:30pm and it was relatively easy to find a somewhat secure parking spot (for $10). 

We went on a Wednesday so I imagine it wasn't as crowded as a weekend tournament, but this day happened to be a day where you could get in free if you bought three canned food items to donate to St. Mary's Food Bank. Good way to save on admission. I think I would be a little irked if I had to pay $10.00 to get in on top of cost for game/ride tickets and food and everything else. The other nice thing about going on a Wednesday is most of the games and rides are half the # of tickets or 4 tickets per game/ride (not all of them but the majority). 

Lines were short and you didn't have to wait much for anything. They sell some pretty strange fair food - I mean I can't even imagine eating fried butter, but I did have a fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cup which was pretty good. 

We went around 7:00 into the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum and it was easy to enter and pretty full once we got inside. We got moved to seats closer than our original section. This is a one time adventure for me and I am glad we went but the fact that it was pretty much free is what made it appealing.