Oh Alaska State Fair How I Miss Thee

The Alaska State Fair kicked off  Thursday August 23rd.  For those of you who may not know, this has been my home away from home the past few years for 3 weeks at the end of August, first part of September.  For me, not being there this year is just another of the many  changes in my life this past year.

Although I am not there, Alaska State Fair is still a big part of my life. I have made some very good friends both because of and within the Alaska State Fair. Along with that, I have friends that have once again traveled up there for this years fair.

All of this got me thinking about the Fair.  The fair was a lot of hard work, long hours, lack of sleep lots of cool wet weather, but of course there are some great things I will miss this year...There is a real uniqueness to the ASF in comparison to other fairs I have attended.

People - Over the past few years I have made some very good friends in Alaska.  Many with the help of Social Media now make it easy to keep in contact with them all year long.  This includes folks from Montana, Washington, and Oregon who traveled up with me as part of the supervisory team, Staff of the Alaska State Fair that I worked side by side with,  and those I had the privilege of supervising over the years.  They truly have become my "ASF Kids!"

Food - Fair food takes on a whole new meaning in Alaska... Yes there are a few of the common fair food vendors, but the local homegrown specialty food items far out number them, and oh the flavors and smells.  A few of my favorites include the bread bowl soups, loaded potato, fresh salmon salad, glacier pizza, loaded local version of the philly steak, and the nacho's muchos.

The Location -  I don't know of another fair location that is surrounded by such beauty.  ASF sits right in the heart of the MAT-SU Valley.  Beautiful mountains surround the valley and even a glacier can be seen close by.  One of the traditions every year wqas seeing how quickly summer would end and fall would arrive during the fair, capped off with what the locals call "termination dust" (first snow) atop one of the mountains.

The Entertainment -  It has amazed me over the years to see some of the entertainment that ASF has attracted.  My job during the fair really didn't allow me to take many of the shows in however I was able to slip away at least a couple times each year to catch bits and pieces of some great shows including Rodney Atkins, Kenny Rogers, Colbie Caillat, and Garrison Keillor.

 The Gardens - Each year I have been amazed at the flowers and gardens around the ASF grounds.  Not only because of thinking that this is Alaska, and they would not have such a growing season for such beauty, but also the time and care they put into all of them. Each year they all have a theme.  I have never seen such beauty and colors as each of these are transformed each year. This years theme is full of blues, like the ocean with plants in the form of seals.     Along with gardens are the half whiskey barrels all over the grounds.  There is an entire crew who early each morning makes the rounds watering and caring for all of them.

The Vegetable Displays -  Home of the giant cabbage and pumpkins!!  Even with a very short growing season, they grow some amazing vegetables because of the very long days of sunlight during that summer.  Besides the cabbages and pumpkins, there is a huge botany  display that I always tried to grab a glance at.

Our Bunks

The Accommodations - No list would be complete in talking about our annual trip if I didn't mention where we stayed.  The last couple years I worked the fair, summers were so busy, I joked I saved all my camping for 1 - three week camping trip.  The entire experience is something that reminds me of church camp.  Old trailers that had been converted into bunkhouses.  We also had the "Clubhouse" which served as our kitchen, laundry room, and shower house.

One of the Unique Booths at AS

The fair is truly an amazing place.  The People, the booths, everything is unique about Alaska State Fair.  I Strongly suggest following their Alaska State Fair Facebook Page, and if you ever get to Palmer at the end of summer take in the ASF!!