We sent 2 reporters to the Mid-State Fair. Deep-fried Oreos and fun abounded
The annual California Mid-State Fair is back celebrating its 80th anniversary in Paso Robles.
Drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the Central Coast, its sweet and savory fair food favorites — including deep-fried, carnival rides and performances surely don’t disappoint. Meanwhile, the classic rides prompt shrieks of joy as kids and adults alike enjoy the attractions.
To check out this year’s scene, we sent Tribune reporters Claire Cleary and Libbey Hanson to check some of the attractions on Wednesday’s opening day.
Here’s what they said you can’t miss out on this year.
Rides and rides galore
With this being both of our first time at the Mid-State Fair, initial impressions were everything but underwhelming. There were at least a dozen options to be thrown into the air, flung around a corner and plummeted to the ground — but in a fun way.
Thrilled shrieks filled the fairground air as we approached our first ride: Vertigo.
A looming, rainbow structure, this ride offered coupled seats that would slowly lift you up into the air swinging you well above the ground. It was the perfect bird’s eye view of the fairgrounds. Although at first glance this ride appeared to be fairly subdued, once you were that high up, the swings went surprisingly fast and the ride truly lived up to its name.
Next we tested our luck at P.L.U.R., the yellow and purple spinning rollercoaster.
This coaster seated four riders at a time, giving us the fun opportunity to connect with two boys we shared a car with. We braved the track together as it took us up and down, spinning and whipping us around on sharp turns that made us all giggle. This one was an adventure, that’s for sure.
Next we tried another spinning ride out of curiosity for its name: Drone Flying Training.
This one was also a four-seater, but circular. The ride spun all the cars in a circle, but each had the option to spin more by turning a silver plate in the middle of the car. We tried our best to spin, but it turns out that carnival cars are heavy. We gave ourselves some grace, there was only two of us this time.
Fair food classics — fresh-squeezed, fried and frozen
After the rides, we desperately needed to cool off and refuel.
Luckily, the Fair had dozens of food booths for us to check out, offering everything from root beer floats to cinnamon rolls to fried chicken sandwiches. We walked down the long row of booths until we found something we couldn’t resist: a fresh-squeezed lemonade stand.
We each ordered a large size of the classic lemonade, which was squeezed in front of us. It was the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and so refreshing that we gulped it down in minutes.
Our only regret was that we didn’t order the refillable size — we would have gone back for seconds and probably thirds.
Next, we needed to balance out the sweet with some salty, and a potato stand caught our eye.
Although the booth mainly advertised decadent baked potatoes, we opted for the simpler option of a fried potato on a stick. The potato was served in a long, thin spiral shape, creating a fun eating experience of pulling pieces off the wooden skewer.
As we continued down the row of food booths, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try a couple of iconic fair foods: a deep-fried Oreo and a deep-fried Twinkie.
Although we were skeptical at first, both treats ended up being undeniably delicious. The Oreo’s gooey melted chocolate inside the fried dough was the perfect combination, even though we couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites.
Needing a break from deep-fried goodness, we decided to try our hand at a game, deciding on a seemingly easy one we could score a prize at.
We landed on a basketball hoop game which required two baskets to win a medium prize. Unsurprisingly, with our skills, we made it happen and won a pink stuffed octopus we named “Deep-Fried Oreo.”
Before leaving, we had to get one final treat, especially after our hard work at the basketball hoops. We opted for Dole Whip in a cake cone, which we both agreed was our favorite bite of the evening.
For more information
The California Mid-State Fair runs until July 26.
It will be open Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Friday through Sunday from noon to midnight.
Tickets are available now at midstatefair.com.
