August 3, 2015 at 4:56 p.m.
Thousands attend Oneida County Fair
Thousands attend Oneida County Fair
By Kayla Thomason-
"We've had an awesome, awesome turnout," said Nancy Gehrig, fair coordinator. "The weather's been great. It's been perfect."
On Thursday 3,320 people walked through the gates and on Friday 3,937 more tackled the rides, tasted everything from kettle corn to funnel cakes, and tried their luck at the various games.
"We're up from last year," Gehrig said.
Last year 2,000 people attended on Thursday and the numbers increased over the following days.
The heavenly aroma of fair food mixed and wafted along the fairgrounds as people braved the gut-flopping rides and subjected their bodies to thrilling feelings of falling and G-force.
"I love (the rides), they're super fun," said Tayler Gunderson, a newcomer to the Oneida County Fair.
She took to the Tilt-A-Whirl, Tempest, Trabant and other rides like a champ.
"If you feel sick you just take deep breaths and don't think about it," Gunderson said.
She and many other attendees had a great time at the fair.
"I think it's pretty fun," said Sofia Fish of her visit to the fair.
She went on the Berry-Go-Round, the slide, Tempest and other rides.
Fish said she liked feeding the animals and the variety of things the fair had to offer.
"I just like in general how they have lots of options of things you can do," she said.
Meri Harkins also attended the fair for the first time.
"It's good," she said.
She said she planned to go on the Tilt-A-Whirl, Ferris wheel and others.
"I think it's going to be a very great fair," she said.
The fair was enjoyed by people of nearly every age.
Debbie Rinaldi has attended the fair nearly every year since it started at Pioneer Park and takes her grandchildren ages 8 and 11.
This year she was a bystander as she watched her daughter and grandchildren tackle the rides.
"When you have grandkids you kind of get to live through them again and do kid things that you may not normally do again, so it's a lot of fun and I think it's really great to have in town," she said.
They had a good laugh over in Animal Alley.
"(My grandchildren) like the fair," Rinaldi said. "They got their picture taken with one of the monkeys and the monkey jumped out of my daughter's hands and went on my granddaughter - she didn't really care for that."
Overall, everyone seem very pleased with their experience at the fair.
"Our entertainment has been awesome, both evenings, Thursday night and Friday night, were packed for entertainment," Gehrig said.
She added that all the vendors looked happy with the amount of traffic that came to their stands.
Rinaldi is thankful for the immense effort the Oneida County Fair Committee puts forth every year to make the fair special.
"It's a great location and I'd say kudos to Nancy Gehrig and her team who put this together every year, they really do a nice job," she said.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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