The New Jersey State Fair

I don't think I've ever been to a fair as large as the one I went to last night. The New Jersey State Fair in Sussex County is located on 125 acres and filled with rides, games, animals, and just about anything fried you could hope for. I met Mark and Meredith in Jersey City and they were nice enough to let me ride with them to the fair. Meredith even made sure to point out the Muffler Man at Wilson's House of Carpet which for all of you Soprano's fans will recognize immediately from the opening credits. We finally arrived at our destination and took a deep breathe in..ahhh, the country. The fair lit up the usually pitch black sky and there was excitement in our eyes. Heather met us at Gate 3 and gave us our tickets..we were in! We walked pass many games, kids shooting water guns to win oversized stuffed animals and then took in the smells of all of the food. Heather brought us over to a tent where a kitchen demonstration was taking place. The guy was trying to sell Cook For Life products, and Andrew and Elissa were in the front row, mesmerized. The demonstrator/salesman had a soothing voice which helped in hypnotizing the audience into buying the products. He went on and on and on...so Meredith, Mark, and I, hungry after our trip from the busy city, went to get some dinner.

When we came back to the Cook For Life tent, the demonstrator was still trying to sell the waterless cooking pans. Elissa, Andrew, and Heather got up and we began our fair journey. One of the stops we made was the feeding zoo. We were feeding pellets to a number of goats, donkeys, zebus, llamas, and some other furry animals. I missed the world's largest horse but I took some photos on my phone which are posted. We continued on to the bunny tent, the chicken tent, the rare breed tent...I'm telling you, this place had everything. In the chicken tent, they event had hatching chicks!

There was more food, more adventure, more laughs, more fun! And then something happened....something that took all of the above and flushed them right down the toilet. Upon entering the fair I noticed that there was a little booth that said "World's Smallest Woman! 29 inches tall!!!". On our way out I mentioned it to the group because I was curious. I figured it would be some sort of projection or mirror trick and Heather seemed to assume the same. All of a sudden we were in front of the booth again taking out money to see this woman. We handed the money to the man in front and walked around him to this little cubicle on which sat this woman from Haiti who spoke no english and was 29 inches tall. I smiled and waved awkwardly and tried to get out as quickly as I could. I felt awful. What had I just done?? I didn't think they were allowed to do this any more. I am still feeling it in my stomach and reliving the moment when I walked around the corner to see this woman just sitting there. I wanted to give her something.. a present or even some cotton candy. I had nothing for her, so I tried to be as friendly and smile as much as possible because perhaps that would make things better. It didn't. Never again will I pay $1 to see a small person, a tall person, a person with a beard, etc. I'm already looking forward to going to the fair again next year. Wanna come?