How to spend a day at the State Fair of Virginia

Why it matters: Record-setting produce! Award-winning animals! Sketchy midway rides!

Here's my guide to this year's sights, smells and flavors …

🎃 Heavyweight gourds: This is clearly the big draw this year.

• People were lining up in the Horticulture Pavilion to photograph a world-record-breaking butternut squash, which was grown in Rappahannock County and weighed in at 131.4 pounds.
• There's also an array of enormous pumpkins and watermelons, plus a handful of extremely long gourds, which have been affixed to two-by-fours to maintain structural integrity.
• The pavilion also features regular-sized produce, including some very satisfying displays of prize-winning corn, which is judged on its uniform rows and consistent color.

🧈 Deep-fried everything: Vendors seemed to have mostly dropped the ridiculous menu items of past years (no deep-fried bacon Kool-Aid pizza here). But you can still get a little weird.

• I was trying to be healthy, so I stuck with a meal of deep-fried broccoli ($10) and pork chop on a stick ($12).
• First of all, had the pork chop been served on a plate in a restaurant rather than a stick, I would have thought I was eating a fine pork schnitzel. It was great.
• I only ordered the broccoli because I thought it was funny, but honestly, it worked and I ended up eating it all.

🎢 Midway shakedown: Wristbands for unlimited rides are $30 bucks and individual tickets will end up running you between $3 and $8 per ride.

• Be forewarned that various $2 fees will be added to your purchases, and the individual ticket system seems designed to make sure you leave with leftover tickets you can't spend.
• I don't love getting dizzy on creaky traveling rides, so I bought just enough tickets for a ride on the Ferris wheel and a few trips down the super slide. (I'm a simple man.)
• I was disappointed to learn the Ferris wheel has a strict policy against single riders, which meant I could only get on if I convinced one of the pre-teens in line behind me to let me join their group. And that didn't seem like a good time for anyone.

• Hopefully you're not a lonely person and this won't apply to you.

🕊 The best pigeons in the state: Does this pigeon know it's better than its peers? What makes it so great, anyway?

• No answers are forthcoming in the Pigeon and Dove Association's tent on the Livestock Loop. (According to one online source you're looking for a tidy bird with good plumage.) But the display is chock full of hundreds of handsome, cooing birds that are definitely worth a look.

🐣 Baby animals galore: Pet a baby cow. Or some goats. Gaze at tiny rabbits. And see some just-hatched chicks.

• They're cute and plentiful. Check out Young McDonald Farm on the Livestock Loop, and the petting zoo at the end of the kid's midway.

Of note: The fair is at Meadow Event Park (just across the street from Kings Dominion) open 10am-9pm through Sunday.

• Admission is $15 in advance or $16 at the gate. Parking is free.