Fun at the Heart of Illinois fair- mostly.

My daughter and I enjoyed the Heart of Illinois fair last night. I have to say, it's quite a different experience now that she's almost 6. I'm a bit out of practice and discovered that among the things that change as you approach 30, your ability to ride carnival rides diminishes. She is now finding the bigger rides appealing which at first, I thought was fun. After 3 trips on Zero Gravity in a row, I began to rethink this.

Between this ride, the Tornado, the Wipeout, the Spider, and the High Bounce, I was ready to hurl. 

After a corn dog break, we got to visit The Unique Twist, a local balloon artist, and grabbed a signature lemon shake up from Bill's. We went over to watch The Wade Henry Street show and watched him eat a balloon. My daughter assured me she wouldn't eat hers. He rode a unicycle and then juggled fire. My daughter then informed me she wouldn't be trying that at home. Hahahaha! Good plan! We walked over to watch Woody's Menagerie. Always a good show. Conservation education with cuddly creatures. Instills a love and respect for animals while talking about the importance of conservation efforts and wildlife protection. From there we went on to the K9's in Flight show. Their homeless to high flying dogs (including pit bulls! Yay!) steal the show. From dock diving, to high jump, to Frisbee catching antics, these dogs are driven to please and play. They stress the importance of adoption and saving a life. 

Overall, we had a good time. Once you got past the $10 admission on top of the wristband prices, and the fact that when we arrived there wasn't even anyone manning the ticket booths til 4:08 and the line was insane. (Wristband rides were from 4-7. Pretty hard to start riding at 4 when you can't even get a wristband before that.) The fair has been shrinking every year, with less and less rides. The ample amount of children's rides is great for them, but definitely a lack for teens and adults. Overall we had a good time, but improvements should be made for next year. Really, the only saving grace is the side shows. Hopefully, we'll see things start to get better instead of continuing on this downward spiral. It would be a shame to see it close up.