changes made to the oklahoma state fair, past to present.

[decepticobra]

with the state fair again underway, what are some changes you have noticed from the past to now. what are some things you miss? what are some current things you despise?

I have a question, just want to throw this out to see if anyone may know. what is the current name of what used to be the kitchens of america building?

..and what is the current and former names of the building that used to always house the recreational vehicles,..the one with the airtight revolving doors that would always pop your eardrums when entering?

[zookeeper]

I haven't been to the fair in years. But, I think what is now the Kitchens of America building used to be called the Modern Living building (if we're thinking of the same one). The latter was the International Building.

[lt14life]

Oh Boy I could go on and on about this one but I will keep it short,, The air tight bldg. is the Cox Pavilion, when the inflatable roof caved in do to a massive snow storm they replaced it with a real roof, Kitchens of America is also the Hobbies Arts & Craft Bldg, also called the women's center and connected to the Modern living Bldg,,,, Now for what I miss... during the Fair.. The Grandstand,, The Monorail,, The Space Needle,, The Helicopter Rides,, The Freak Show's,, The Dancing Girls,, The Side Show Attractions...I.E. The Bonnie & Clyde Death Car... The Wild Women That turned into a wild Gorilla right before your very eye's,,lol!! and so many many more Attractions, also Dunk the rude Clown in the water tank by throwing Baseballs,, I miss the Midway as a kid you knew most of the games were rigged and the Fair had that dirty type of ambiance, It was a real Fair full of thrills and excitement, and you never knew what was going to be around the next corner. I Miss it big time but it was cool to experience it during the 70's & 80's. Ahh the memories, What a shame that its all gone now. So im sure ive missed some things here so please jog my memory.

[Jeepnokc]

I forgot about the helicopter rides. Bozo the clown has been back the last couple of years but he is off to the southwest corner of the fair on the other side of the rides. Out of the way so as to not offend.

[SoonerDave]

The fair was a second-generation tradition from my family as a kid that I tried to carry down to my kids, but the folks who run the fair absolutely destroyed it. The highbrows didn't and don't like it because its a "funnel cakes and corndogs" environment which offends their sensibilities, and I think slowly they're just migrating it to exclusive use for horse shows and conventions for the new convention buildings that were the ultimate excuse for tearing down the grandstand.

I have fond memories of the fair as a kid. Used to love to get Junior Hospitality subs in the inflato-roof building, Wonder Bars (which I assume are still there), and Helmut's Strudel. The monorail and space needle were icons of the fairgrounds, each left to ruin and abandoned. They finally lost me when they tried to run a literal tea room in what used to be called the Kitchens of America building. They ruined the Make in Oklahoma building with the idiotic Agtropolis nightmare, most of the auto vendors stopped exhibiting their cars (for a variety of reasons, apparently), most of the traditional vendors left when the new leaders cut the number of spaces and rental space skyrocketed. I will never forget the lady running the Dairy Council ice cream stand in the front area of the Made In OKlahoma building nearly in tears when I asked her during the first wave of changes what was going on, and she said "oh, the leadership has changed and they're changing everything. They're killing the fair and no one understands or knows about it. We're desperately trying to get people to know what they're doing to the fair, because they don't care what happens to it. Lots of vendors quit, they couldn't afford the rent." She went on a lot longer than that, but the sadness in her voice and demeanor spoke volumes.

The higher-ups brought in a specialist from Texas by the name of Skip Wegner about a decade (?) ago to update the fairgrounds, but he took that charter way beyond updating and converted into a scorched earth project. By the time the folks who cared got enough attention to it and (at least indirectly) led to Wegner resigning and going back to Texas, the damage was done and irreversible. One of the great fairs was lost in the process. Unfortunately, I think it was an intentional effort to make the fair seem unpopular and unprofitable to rationalize taking it over for more business-oriented exhibits and purposes.

We haven't been to the fair in years, and it's kinda heartbreaking to say so. It used to be something we looked forward to with great enthusiasm.

Not anymore.

[MWCGuy]

I can't believe the prices on the food and drinks this year. The average price for everything is $6.00. The Food booths need to be moved to an area other than the alleyways between the exhibit buildings just simply because everything gets jammed up and it gives the appearance that more people are there than actually number of people there. Outside of the food booths, the crowd was a steady stream at best. The parking lot was easy to get in and out of even though the traffic control team appeared to be lost. They were sending people to the back of the lot instead filling the open spaces. When we parked we counted at least fifty front row spaces that were empty. I paid to park in the close lot and end parking close to the free lots. Had I known where they were going to direct us to park I would have saved $5.00 and parked in the free lot.

In nutshell, the fair has become a flea market with ride, games and contest. Speaking of contests, I did here the parent of one 1st place winner complaining to fair staff about their kid's bakery entry item not being displayed. She politely noted that fair contest rules stated top level winners would be guaranteed a display space. She was given a lame excuse that many items were not displayed because of lack of space. I am wondering how long it will be before they drop the contest and say they didn't have enough interest in it or space for it. After all the fair needs more sales space of things you can buy in a store year round. Not contest items that people work all year in hopes of creating something that will win a contest because it's been a family tradition or they are trying to build a career or a home business.

[Easy180]

Been to the fair at least once annually over the past 25 years and haven't really noticed much of a change aside from the dunk tank going bye bye...I think a lot of the complaints have to do with comparisons to when they were kids at the fair...Of course grown up present day memories can't compare to when we were kids at the fair

It is expensive but hey take solace in the fact you have all year to save up for a trip or two each September

[lt14life]

Been to the fair at least once annually over the past 25 years and haven't really noticed much of a change aside from the dunk tank going bye bye...I think a lot of the complaints have to do with comparisons to when they were kids at the fair...Of course grown up present day memories can't compare to when we were kids at the fair

It is expensive but hey take solace in the fact you have all year to save up for a trip or two each September

Ok Im not trying to be rude here but you didn't notice the HUGE Gap where the grandstand and race track once was?? or the side shows,gone ? the freak shows,gone ? the monorail, gone ? and the space needle that no longer operates? and tons more of attractions, gone ? Im sure there are alot of grown people on this site that are just as disappointed in the Fair as I am.

[Easy180]

Ok Im not trying to be rude here but you didn't notice the HUGE Gap where the grandstand and race track once was?? or the side shows,gone ? the freak shows,gone ? the monorail, gone ? and the space needle that no longer operates? and tons more of attractions, gone ? Im sure there are alot of grown people on this site that are just as disappointed in the Fair as I am.

Guess not as I didn't ever get into any of the things you mentioned

[oki]

The Oklahoma State Fair has torn down way too many local landmarks.

First they tore down the sky tram/monorail. What a shame.

Then the race area... I didn't notice that one.

Now the Space Needle hasn't worked in at least two or three years and there don't seem to be any plans to repair it. I know it's money, but come on, there are many big $$$ companies around here that could probably use the tax write-off (and positive local publicity).

There are very, very few local landmarks and monuments that OKC is known for.

The Space Needle is one of them.

We should be preserving these things.

There's Founders Tower with the spinning city view that might not have the indoor spinning view when the new restaurant opens. There was the restaurant nearby to it that operated for 50+ years that was shut down or torn down. There's Bricktown, but that's a relatively new "landmark" with the (relatively) new convention center, memorial, riverwalk, etc. There's the city view from the new Devon tower. There's a few statues downtown, Paseo, and in Edmond, but I can't remember what they're of or who they're by. It's the "little" things like the Space Tower, spinning Founder's Tower top floor, Fairgrounds monorail, Oklahoma Monument 100 Years of Progress at the Fairgrounds, etc. that are more memorable.

[oki]

There seems to be more and more kiddie art with "first prize" for everything. I would even say it's too much. Let kids and adults actually compete and show only the select best-- not thousands and thousands worth of items that aren't intricate or impressive. I saw way too many duck tape dresses, 10 minute sewn placemats, and scribble kiddie drawings. Not every piece entered should be displayed. It was pretty boring to look through since there's seemingly no competition at all-- enter and it's displayed.

The kiddie animal building with chickens, goats, and a farm theme is always pretty fun.

The barns this year had fewer horses and animals than I've ever seen.

There seem to be more food vendors this year. They aren't organized particularly well. It was hard to find stuff, and the attractions/vendors mean a lot of walking back and forth over and over because of where things are placed.

There are few signs directing you to where shows, buildings, etc. are. That's annoying.

The day I went there was lightning for an entire 10 minutes in the afternoon. They cancelled all shows for the rest of the day. Ugh.

A lot of vendors this year wouldn't accept debit cards. Annoying. The ones that did couldn't for several hours while I was there because their machines are down. I saw maybe one high-fee ATM at the fair and that's it.

There was no one at the info booth when I arrived and no maps available out.

The grounds seemed cleaner this year. I saw several workers out picking up trash that trashy people littered on the grounds.

The timing of the shows is strange. It's hard to see all or even most shows in one day. There's not much early to mid afternoon.

[JustinXmusic]

Ok Im not trying to be rude here but you didn't notice the HUGE Gap where the grandstand and race track once was??

That still freaks me out...mainly since the only time I've been to the fair since it's been gone has been at night. There's just this huge empty black space.

[SoonerDave]

The fair used to be an annual tradition for, but not anymore. They've just torn down and destroyed too much. No one seems to care. Sad. Think the conventioneers have basically won out, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the fair go away at some point. Ever since one of our former mayors said the fair had a "funnel cakes and corndog image" (in a negative way), I realized the powers-that-be had no use for the fair, and that disdain has been evident in the years since.

Now I don't think you could pay my kids to go; its not even on their radar anymore, and with the upcoming big expo building it looks like most of the midway space is going to be plowed under. As others have noted, all the delightful, distinctive things have been plowed down in the name of more barns and more convention space, and since that's what pays the bills the other 50 weeks out of the year, the Fair loses. As I said, its just sad.

No one in OKC will appreciate what we're losing in the fairgrounds until its too late. Unfortunately, I think it already is.

[OKVision4U]

My family and I have not been to the fair in years as well. We enjoy the food, the smells, the sounds of carnival, and most of the exhibits. OKC now has so many other big events, that the fair just passes us by. KIds today are so "over stimulated" in their everday life w/ phones / video games / 80 inch 3D HD, that throwing a ball to knock down 3 bottles, doesn't get them excited. Maybe we should move to a different type of experience in the facilities... ????

Ideas? Largest Indoor MidWay in the US? ...??? A "coney island" type structure that has history too? ...

[Plutonic Panda]

Ideas? How about reimplementing the monorail, fixing the space needle, building a Formula1 race track, taking out the sea of parking and building structured parking having 3, 5 story parking garages with a park spanning across the of the garages. Maybe put in a few high powered telescopes and create a miniature observatory, making an astronomy center, all on top of the 3 parking garages. Should have tons of space, maybe 200,000 sq ft. or more. I'll try and render something simple of what I'm talking about.

[cindycat]

In the 1970's my husband worked on the projects to move a B-47 and a B-52 from Tinker to the Fairgrounds. In 2005 we moved to Washington state but we kept in touch with OKC through friends. My cousin told us they had dismantled the whole aircraft exhibit and distributed the aircraft around the country. The B-52 went to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, Ca. We got in touch with the museum director and drove down to visit "our" B-52. We copied the full set of photos taken by the base photographer - pictures of dismantling, moving and reassembling the old Buff - and gave them to museum, along with plaque my husband was given for his participation in the project.

[OKCretro]

when did they take away the monorail? I remember it as a kid in the 1980's

also when did they stop giving rides on the space needle? I remember hearing stories every year of it breaking down with people on it?

[biznesschic1959]

The "freak" shows (I know, a terrible name to call what would have been the disabled today). I remember a guy that would turn into an ape right before your eyes, most likely done with mirrors. It led to screaming teenagers running from the tent when they opened the cage.

[biznesschic1959]

The demise of the family farm. Even during the 60's early 70's when I was a kid, local farmers would use the fair to sell their livestock and grain, including my grandparents from Durant. Farmers with a little money in their pockets from those sales, from rural areas, would treat their children to a weekend at the fair. I agree. Farms are now mostly corporate owned, and those days are gone.

[ljbab728]

The demise of the family farm. Even during the 60's early 70's when I was a kid, local farmers would use the fair to sell their livestock and grain, including my grandparents from Durant. Farmers with a little money in their pockets from those sales, from rural areas, would treat their children to a weekend at the fair. I agree. Farms are now mostly corporate owned, and those days are gone.

That may have happened but I lived on a family farm until the late 60's. We never used the state fair to sell anything. My father always spent a lot of time looking at the agricultural exhibits though.

[biznesschic1959]

The fair is where we went to sell cattle, that went straight to the slaughter house 1 mile up the road. My uncle would park the Airstream in the parking lot, while the kids enjoyed the fair. Also, it was a great place to buy hay seeds.

[ljbab728]

The fair is where we went to sell cattle, that went straight to the slaughter house 1 mile up the road. My uncle would park the Airstream in the parking lot, while the kids enjoyed the fair. Also, it was a great place to buy hay seeds.

We grew a lot of alfalfa (I shudder to think about all of the hours I spent bailing or hauling hay) but I don't think we ever bought any seed there.

[Prunepicker]

with the state fair again underway, what are some changes you have noticed
from the past to now. what are some things you miss? what are some current
things you despise?

1. I liked the crowed Midway. I didn't ride the rides. I just liked the
excitement.

2. That idiotic agraphobia, or whatever it's called, in what used to be called
the "Made in Oklahoma" building. What a waste of space. It should be
delegated to a 10x10 space in the Livestock Barn. That's more than
enough space for that notion of silliness.

3. I miss the Made In Oklahoma building. It made far more sense that
giving it to the "agraphobia" crap.

4. Take that ridiculous fence from the Train Engine in the Automotive
building and let kids skin their knees and elbows. Who came up with
that absurdity? Honestly. Who was stupid enough to do that?

5. Where the heck are the Canna's?

[Prunepicker]

The "freak" shows...

No kidding. The pc (barf) world is out of control. Do they not understand
that deformities honestly and truly exist? I can tell you from experience
that I learned more from those freak shows than from high school
biology. They don't know the questions that were asked during the fair.

[HangryHippo]

No kidding. The pc (barf) world is out of control. Do they not understand
that deformities honestly and truly exist? I can tell you from experience
that I learned more from those freak shows than from high school
biology. They don't know the questions that were asked during the fair.

I'm sorry but stating that the "PC world is out of control" and that "deformities honestly and truly exist" and referring to them as "freak shows" says a hell of a lot about your lack of character. Maybe you should try showing some respect. Jesus, that's just despicable.