A weirdo's guide to the Utah State Fair

• The hijinks are not always intentional — see: porcine intransigence in the show ring — but when Utah's country and city folk meet, delightfully weird things tend to happen.

The bottom line: Nowhere else in town are you likelier to find a hypnotist performing yards away from a jacuzzi demo.

Here are some of the more adventurous, interactive and quirky highlights on the itinerary:

🪓 Extreme Lumberjacks: Smell the sawdust at multiple daily shows.

🐓 Poultry barn: We love the avant-garde hairdos on some of these cluckers.

🛻 Monster Truck ride-alongs: Or see the "Monsters Are Real" show Sept. 20. Tickets

🤯 Promontory Building: The Creative Arts category is the real wild card of the fair.

🐖 Flying Aces Pig Race: Multiple sprints daily.

🍨 Ice Cream Festival: Bring your spoon to the Market Building 3-7pm next Monday. $5

• If you need more protein, the beef feast is Friday, Sept. 18.

🎶 The tunes: Music is playing near-constantly at stages around the Fairpark, from opera to one-man-band funk — and it turns out a lot of Utah bands have excellent names, including:

• Lighten Up, Francis (alt rock)
• Nellie and the Yardswillers (indie rock)
• Lies & Alibis (country)
• Highball Train (honky-tonk)
• The Livid Dead ("gritty Americana")
• 1993 Fog Machine (alt rock)
• Slim Chance And His Psychobilly Playboys (rockabilly)