Evergreen State Fair

To be fair (pun not intended), I’m not a big fair goer. Still, I’ve been to better. The rides are OK. Most fairs I’ve attended have been at «fair grounds» with open space, dirt, etc. This one is mostly what feels like a parking lot. This is just not a great venue and the rides, food, etc.

As I get older, I lose interest in rickety rides that make me feel like I’m making a death wish, long lines, or prizes. In my 20’s, I know I should still want to wait for 1 hour in line for a 2 second ride, but it simply doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Only fair food does.
With that being said, there’s still so much to love about this fair!
Going to this fair was a last minute decision after mulling over the final summer days which could be spent hiking or at the beach.
We got to bond with animals we don’t usually see like horses, llamas, sheep and cows. There are plenty of petting areas, and trainers/​owners comfortable with giving plenty of information about their companions. There’s even an area to watch sheep be sheared and cows get milked. doesn’t get more intimate than that, haha!
When you’ve done enough walking and playing there’s a plethora of food to choose from. I have NEVER seen so many food stands at any gathering, EVER. It was literally like a maze of food smelling of sausage, popcorn, scones, cotton candy, pizza and BBQ.
I’ve also never been to a rodeo. $ 4.50 for 2 hours of family fun compared to $ 40 for movie tickets and popcorn – think about it. Better yet, don’t think! JUST GO!

I have been to the Puyallup fair many times and it had been awhile since I went to the Evergreen. For what you get its fairly expensive once you walk in the door and get something to eat. I had already spent about $ 50 Then you either pay big dollars for popup rides or get robbed by the $ 5 a game for the tiny prizes. The best part of the fair is the exhibits. They were more entertaining and free. The people at the game booths should be ashamed of themselves robbing little kids like that. I remember when I was a kid you paid a few dollars and you got a great prize. There was this lady on the loudspeaker who kind of drove me crazy. I left like i lived in a war zone. There are some great vendors here but some seriously shoddy ones as well. Not a bad place but seriously I thought it was expensive. Fisher Scones, the Pronto Pups (fair famous in the picture) and a couple of other places are the only saving grace. They really need some healthier options here though. It’s seriously a fried food fest.

Don’t bother if you have small children. They have changed ride height restrictions from what is advertised on their website. I purchased wrist bands online ahead of time based on the information on the website only for my son to be disappointed because they changed the height requirement for his favorite ride and deemed him to be too short now. Inexcusable in my opinion.
Spoke with ride operators, ticket sales, and «management» trailer only to be brushed off. «That’s why we have over 40 rides»
They offered to refund me for one use of the one ride (that we know of so far) that he may not ride after the change. It’s his favorite ride, he would have ridden on it a dozen times with the wrist band.

I have been going to the Evergreen State Fair every year since 2000. Usually my family goes two or three times. This year the fair is very boring. It’s the same thing every year!!! It would be nice if they changed things up. We went on 8÷29÷15 and there was very few people there, which is very unusual. There was no entertainment on the outdoor stage while we were there. The one change they did do this year was to add a petting farm. It was good, but they removed one of the entertainment areas to add the petting farm.
In years past I would have given the fair 5 stars, this year the fair is really bad. Between the ten dollar parking and the twelve dollar admission per person it’s not worth the money.

Ouch, My family of four was out more than $ 50 before we even got started on the overpriced food and rides. If you have tons of money to burn and don’t care what things cost, this is a lot of fun!

Opening Day of the 107^th annual Evergreen State Fair.
The fair was a delightful experience. Took my 4 year & 2 years old. They both loved the little rides, the food, the pig races, and the lumberjack show.
I think that the food was great and that I would go back for that. The entertainment was good too. The pony thing that I thought was outrageous was the prices for games and the wrist bands.
The only downside was the long lines for the kiddy rides.
Favorite moment: Watching my children had fun (Fun for little ones except for long lines).

Over the last few years, I’ve made this my primary fair of the summer. I used to go to another fair down south but have changed that over the last three years. When I was a child in VERY rural Hawaii, the fair was a big thing that everyone always went to. A part of me will always get excited when the fair is around.
I find this fair less stressful compared to others. Yes, there are other people there but not so many that I can’t walk around without bumping into people. Also, the vibe is much different. It feels more family oriented. The lack is police presence is a good way to judge how laid back it is. The space is arranged well and allows for personal space.
As others have mentioned, you pay a fee to get in addition to other costs. Don’t bother paying for single rides. Get the bracelet and ride free all day. Believe me, it’s worth it if rides are your jam.
I like how the animals are laid out and folks flock to see dog shows, pet the rabbits, and maybe even touch a chicken. There are tons of other animals as well, most of them furry — yay!
The lumberjack competitions are always fun. From chopping down logs to log rolling, it’s something that I was never exposed to as a child. I find it all amazing.
You can find typical fair attractions — concerts, vendors, fair food, etc. Honestly, the food is not great but I always go for a funnel cake, Fleischkuekle, and Fisher Scones.

Pros: Smaller than the Puyallup, more community centered. LOTS of food choices.
Cons: $$Parking, distance from home.
We had a nice day at the fair — got to see everything we wanted to until we were completely worn-​out.
It seems to be organized better than the Puyallup, cleaner and friendlier.

The is one of the fun things to do with the family. It is the small town fair. This has been a tradition with my family for years. Reminds me of my childhood. By the kids the all day ride pass and then hit the booths and shows. You won’t be disappointed.

We’ve been coming to the Evergreen State Fair for oh 15 or so years? So yeah I’m a fan.
Yes the parking fee @ $ 10 is irksome. Hint, ride your MOTORCYCLE, its $ 5 and you get to park right next to the GATE. Yeehaw!
Getting in, there are lots of ways to go to the fair for much less than the standard fee, look for those discount tickets, the $ 2 Tuesday, the half off last day, or better yet ENTER something! CONTRIBUTE! You get a BOGO coupon for adults.
Maybe I’m just old but I like all the ‘old school’ exhibits and entertainment. The loggers. The local artists. The Grange Hall exhibits, photos, art, music and evening grandstand events, horse shows, and my favorite the FAIR FOOD. And ya gotta have a big ear o’corn from the Lions Club! Yes its a little spendy. Yes I did a little mad-​dance at a smallish lemonade for $ 4. Eat and then go calm your nerves looking at all the various breeds of chickens, goats, sheep, rabbits, and walking steaks. Over by the loggers is our new favorite, the PETTING ZOO which is for EVERYONE not just kids, go there, you’ll smile and laugh when a baby fawn comes over and tries to eat your shirt. So cute.
And kids love the rides.
No reason to go to that dern ‘biggest’ fair down in Pewyallup! Its even more expensive. So as far as ‘state fairs’ go in Washington, this is as good as it gets, and by Unilocal definition thats 5 stars

The traffic we experienced to enter the fairgrounds ⁸⁄₃₁ was horrendous; we approached on SR 2 and spent 90 minutes agonizingly creeping up to the gates in a 5 mile lineup.
Somebody please put some traffic control on westbound SR 2 to help out!

Meh… I rather wait an extra few week and drive south to the Puyallup Fair. It’s like 6 times larger than this one. Meh

Maybe it’s because I’ve aged that the fair no longer seems as fun as it once was. Either that, or the novelty wears off after you visit this fair every summer of your whole life. Okay, I don’t come here that often, but you can kind of run out of things to do even if you don’t attend the fair every year. They don’t do a very good job of keeping things new and fresh. Even if you live near Monroe, there is not much of a point to repeated visits because you can see the whole fair in just a few hours. It took me less than four hours on my most recent visit.
The price to get in is ten dollars for adults. That’s actually… not that bad in my opinion. Yeah, I’ll pay ten dollars for a few hours of fun. The movies are more expensive nowadays. Ages 6 – 15 and 62 – 89 get in for seven dollars, and it’s free if you’re 5 and under or 90 and over. I think it sounds kind of fair. Of course, you’ll most likely be spending more money on things like rides, games, and food. It might be a good idea to withdraw some cash in advance for that reason.
I actually got here in the afternoon this year, and I was starving because I hadn’t had lunch that day. I rushed over to the food stands and was dismayed at how overpriced everything was, but I was hungry and had to eat. I spent over twenty dollars on food from three different stands before I was full. That’s right, I spent more than twice as much on food as I did on admission. That kind of sucks when the foods are almost entirely unhealthy and consist mostly of standard fair snacks.
The barns are kind of cool. You get to see farm animals like cows, goats, and pigs just lay there and do nothing but eat. They also have alpacas, a South American animal, here. It’s fun to take pictures and show the kids what the animals they learned about in school actually look like up close.
They have a Native American exhibit of sorts here; they show some of the dances and artwork. Inside one of the buildings is a taco stand where they sell frybread. I wasn’t hungry when I came by here, and when I returned, they had run out of supplies! I didn’t get to try any, so if you see where they sell food, try to buy some before it’s all sold out.
The games are pretty interesting, and it’s actually fairly cheap to play considering the prizes if you know what you’re doing. It may seem impossible to win at certain ones, but I’ve won the one where you toss plastic rings onto bottles. You’re only paying five dollars for a few chances to win one of their fairly big prizes, so I’d say it’s at least worth a shot if you’re interested. I brought home a huge toy tiger that I gave to a friend’s baby. There’s something at the fair for everyone. You just might get tired of it after a while.

I want to like the fair, but I spent $ 30 before I even officially walked through the gate. $ 10 for parking, $ 20 to get in.
It just is not what it used to be which is good, reasonable family fun. Same vendors, selling the same stuff every year. Never changes.
Always fun to look at the animals and the hobby halls.
My son really loved the petting zoo this year and so did I. I wish they would limit the amount of people in there at once though. I feel like it gets a little chaotic and traumatizing for the animals. Especially when people do not watch their kids and let them literally chase these poor animals around.
Food, I love fair food, who doesn’t? But the prices, jeeze. $ 4.00 for a small drink on a hot day is highway robbery. Bring your own bottles of water and refill them, the installed fillers at all the water fountains which is a nice touch!
Rides, get the bracelet, even though it is $ 25, which is still insane for the amount of rides they actually have there, it is still way cheaper than getting tickets. Most of the rides are 3 – 4 tickets, even in kiddie land. We got one just for my son since he can ride all the kids stuff alone. He had a blast doing it.
I am not sure I will make it a point to come out next year which is unfortunate, but it is really not a «hometown» fair anymore, it is a lot of money and random marketing stuff, that is it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like there wasn’t nearly enough free entertainment at this fair. Did enjoy the lumberjack show and the animals, but it wasn’t the all-​day event I expected it to be.

It was a fun fair but nothing like the MN state fair. Lots of huge people here.

I know this fair is not as big as the Puyallup, but that’s exactly what gives this one some added charm. A fair is a fair is a fair, for the most part, save for a few differences. When they’re at a smaller venue they feel a bit more ‘Merrican though, if you know what I mean.
There is just enough at the Evergreen Fair to entertain everyone — animals, crafts, infomercial-​style vendors, and rides and games of course. I like the car races, which is something Puyallup certainly doesn’t offer. My kids love the animals, and of course the food. Actually, the food options seem a little better than average here (though you’ll still pay for it).
I have a couple tips to attach to this review:
* If you haven’t done it before, try hitting it up in the evening when the heat is less intense and the lights make for a good show. Less tiring this way!
* We found free parking a couple blocks away from the paid lots. A little extra walking will save you some cash if you’re open to it.
* You can bring your own water bottles (and maybe food?) into the fair. They didn’t even check our bags this year. Awesome! No more paying $ 3-​$ 4 for a bottle of water.
I must say it is mind boggling to me that with the huge Latino crowds these days, we still don’t see any authentic taco/​torta stands or agua fresca stands. Just one of those would make bank! Don’t go getting any ideas though, ok? I thought of it first!

It seems that every year I go, the fair gets smaller. This year was no exception, as the kiddie rides at the entrance had dwindled.
Definitely check out the animals, as baby anythings are pretty cute (even goats). For food options, you’ve got everything from bratwurst to gyros to pulled pork. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, there are elephant ears, ice cream, various flavors of fudge, and so much more.
The commercial buildings don’t hold much appeal anymore. When I was younger, I loved browsing the different wares. Now the most exciting thing to consider buying was a jar of garlic seasoning.
The rides are pretty standard, but the tickets and wristbands are getting way overpriced. If you get a chance, just take your kids to a theme park.
All in all, it’s pretty good for a small-​town fair. If you compare it to big ones across the country, it fails.

Okay, let’s do some Clover math: it’s been awhile.
5 stars for price and ease to fun ratio. «All you can ride» bracelets are $ 25 weekday/​$ 30 weekend, admission is cheap $ 10 adult (16+), $ 7 youth (6 – 15) and free 5-​under. GET THE BRACELET. The rides are stupidly priced at 4 tickets ($ 1 each) for a maze with a slide and other ‘killer’ rides are 3 tickets– WTF?
4 stars for selection of food items available– oh, we’ve got your Fischer scones right here, lady. Chicken on a skewer with rice and peanut sauce was DELISH.
1 star for WTF with the LOUD games right near the kids rides? One had bursting balloons the other was the ‘Test Your Strength’ um, too loud right there scaring kids.
1 star for fixing the rides randomly/​taking breaks seemingly on schedule while tons of people are in line and in no way communicating what’s up to those people
3 stars for the fact that there’s an entire kids area hidden that both years I couldn’t find until I happened upon it.
My tips: try and look at the fair map first, we ended up wandering more than I would have liked but overall, it’s less busy and crazy than the Puyallup but still tons of fun to be had for the 5 year olds.
You can get tickets online but it’s only a few $ cheaper.
You can bring in your own water and etc if you wish.
GET THE BRACELET!