A day at the Illinois State Fair: Pork chops, politics and parking
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A pork chop on a stick has forever changed my life. Selfie: Justin Kaufmann/Axios
For this Chicago resident, the Illinois State Fair is a foreign experience. Sure, there are carnival rides and elephant ears, but everything else is on a scale that makes a local street festival look quaint.
Here are five observations from this city dweller at the State Fair.
I'll never eat meat without a stick again
🥩 Meat on a stick is f*&cking delicious. I went all in on the fair experience and ordered a pork chop on a stick.
- I marveled at its size for about as long as it took me to demolish the juicy chop — roughly five bites. The fair also boasts the Vose Korndog, a fixture since 1966.
- There are non-meat options, too, like cheese on a stick and the potato tornado, which is basically a spiraled potato on a stick.
4-H is no joke
🐑 I may live in Chicago now, but I grew up in a rural town, so I thought I knew 4-H. But this is 4-H on steroids, with several special breed competitions every day.
- When I was there, the goats were gone. But judges were handing out ribbons for Dorset, Oxford and Hampshire sheep, and man, they were…pretty? What's the word for a good-looking sheep?
- I wandered into the Hall of Champions to see the winning cows, pigs, rabbits and ducks, all of which fetched thousands of dollars during the fair.
Traffic is traffic everywhere
🚙 If you think the traffic closures around Lollapalooza are disruptive, try driving around the Illinois State Fairgrounds in August.
- Two-lane highways become one-way roads, temporary signs send drivers scrambling into the right lanes, and finding your parking lot becomes the ultimate brain teaser. I'll never complain about Chicago street closures again.
Get a corn dog and a Real ID
🪪 Tucked away from the action, most Illinois state agencies have their own booths. Most hand out information, but the Secretary of State's tent is basically a real, live DMV.
- You can do almost everything there that you can at a regular facility in Chicago, including getting a Real ID.
- The exceptions: You can't take the written driver's license exam or the road test. (See traffic section above.)
Airbushed into infamy
🐴 It's hard not to love carnival rides and games, of which there are plenty. But wander toward the back of the fairgrounds and you'll find a little booth offering a unique fair keepsake: an airbrushed T-shirt.
- I couldn't resist. For $35, I got this masterpiece, which we'll give away at our fifth anniversary party on Sept. 3.
- As Beyoncé famously sang: "Look at that horse, look at that horse, look at that horse."
