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Photos from the 2011 Arlington County Fair

by ARLnow.com | August 12, 2011 at 12:25 pm | 2,813 views | 35 Comments

The Arlington County Fair is in full swing.

From now through Sunday, the food vendors, rides, shows and exhibitions will be in full effect, morning, noon and night. We went around the fair last night capturing some of the signature scenes from the annual late summer tradition.

Scenes from the 2011 Arlington County Fair

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Gabby

Where’s the picture of the ridiculous amount of money flying out of my wallet? We were there for about an hour last night. Without even buying dinner, we were out $70. $3 for ONE ride down the slide?! (It’s $6 if the kid is small enough that the parent has to go.) That’s robbery.
- Cyrus
  
  I thought I was on ArlNow. I must have logged onto GrumpyNow by accident…
  - South Arlington
    
    These days Arlnow = Grumpynow @ always
    - Blueloom
      
      +1
- CarsSuck
  
  should’ve gone to Kings Dominion and made a whole day for that much!
JimPB

Go the fair to see the animals, not for the experience of a wallet-draining amusement park.
- Gabby
  
  Well, my 5 and 7 year olds would disagree with you.
- ZoningVictim
  
  Yeah, piglet racing at 6pm tonight. Place your bets…
- charlie
  
  especially the two-legged ones with fat wallets!!
TJ

By the way…have your kids color a page from this site and they can get a free ride.

http://www.colerides.com/colorpage.html
Rosslynite

Shoulld I bring my dog?
- AllenB
  
  Only if you promise to make it take a dump right in front of every dog hater from arlnow.com.
  - TGEoA
    
    Does your dog poop on command? Neat trick.
    - porkchop_milkshake
      
      Most can be easily trained to do that.
- charlie
  
  everyone can bring a date. jeez. why do you have to ask?
  - Rosslynite
    
    My date is not so much of a dog. Horseface is probably a more apt description.
    - MyHood
      
      Why the long face?
TGEoA

Scott,

You missed the pig races.
Flying Spaghetti Monster

I have taken my 20 lb dog before. He is awesome around strangers and is not the skittish type when it comes to noises. However, gotta say that he isn’t the biggest fan of the Fair experience. The noises are coming from all sides and the crowds and smeels overwhelm him a bit. And I was told that he wasn’t allowed inside the exhibits hall. (Not sure why?!?)
CW

I get overwhelmed by smeels to. Especially of people smorking.
- CW
  
  Spelling mock fail.
  - charlie
    
    now you understand why i said dogs smell and stink.
charlie

cool pics.
in picture 9 you can see a responder to arlnow

but seriously, animals do not belong IN the Fair — it is said that we condone this type of treatment of animals. That one cat looks so scared. …
- Arlwhenever
  
  Darn. Thanks for blowing my cover.
atown

I’m honestly shocked to see that many people in some of these photos. Good for Arlington, I guess, because growing up here that was NEVER one of the highlighted events; it was a pretty big joke generally. :-/
- charlie
  
  it has really changed. i agree with you. the Fair of the 1970′s early 80′s was major lame-o. it has become big time. serious stuff.
CarsSuck

Prince William’s fair has demolition derby. Maybe we can move some of the grandstands over to the Pentagon north parking and set something like that up. Not like there’s anyone using it over the weekend. BTW, PW fair is now until the 20th.
Bob

Went to the fair today and had a great time. Looks like a lot of time goes into the planning of the event these days. I really got a kick out of the comments above about the dogs (dates?). I’m planning on taking my family back before it is over. Hope to see you there!
billycwhatup

I was impressed by the pregnant, smoking, Mountain Dew drinking, absolutely unpleasant woman working the $7 jumping thing. She seemed to epitomize the meth crew working the rides. Check out the picture – look closely to find the cigarette for bonus points!
Honk

That picture looks like the Circus version of the weenie beenie.
1234

Had a good time, spent a fortune, but importantly the kids had a blast. I was left wondering, though, why the county decided to prohibit parking on the 2-3 blocks closest to the fair (nice wide blocks), pushing parking to the (much narrower) streets 3-4 blocks away? Seemed like a needless inconvenience for both attendees and those residents 4 blocks from the school.
Southie

The fair cannot be over soon enough. The fairgoers clog up our neighborhood…they don’t know how to park…and they leave tons of trash behind for us to clean up. I don’t know what is worse…the meth-head carnies running the rides, or the toothless fairgoers who come out of the woodwork to attend this esteemed event. Loserville comes to Arlington.
ArlingtonCountyTaxpayer

what’s with the shuttle bus from W-L cost $1.00 EACH WAY???
It is easier to just park in the neighborhood. Family of 4 — $8.00 to get to the fair? i guess it is warm-up for the wallet-opening of the day.
but seriously, you don’t reduce congestion by charging us to take a bus that also works for the Fair.
PhilT

What happened to the Arts, Crafts, Flowers, and other interior reasons to participate in the fair? Excluding the chicken huggers, there isn’tmuch coverage.

We had our daughter sow some seeds, water, and care for some flowers and enter them in the fair for several years, and she learned through a few ribbons and even a few cash prizes that the fair is more than an excuse to eat terrible food and ride dirty, short, expensive rides.

It isn’t the 4-H fairs of the real ‘burbs, but there’s a lot of talent that probably goes unseen in the building.
http://offices.ext.vt.edu/arlington/ Kirsten Buhls

The Arlington County Fair is a wonderful attraction and a great tradition that Virginia Cooperative Extension is proud to be a part of. There is a great exhibits section of the fair that everyone should know about Here is a link to the fair guide that lists the rules of exhibiting and describes the different categories. Extension volunteers staff the flower and vegetable shows every year and there are separate kids and adults divisions. Hope to see you at the fair next year!! http://issuu.com/bpolis/docs/arlingtoncountyfairguide

Changes Coming to Some ART Routes on Monday Update on Large Residential Developments in N. Arlington

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