Summer. It’s the time of the year for beach vacations, cookouts, watching baseball, swimming in a pool, camping with family and friends, attending a concert, playing miniature golf, eating ice cream, and so much more. For many parts of the country, the state fair is a huge summer attraction. These week-long (or multi-week long) gatherings are an opportunity to enjoy the food, agriculture, manufacturing, entertainment, and culture of individual states. New Jersey’s State Fair was held for years at the Garden State Park, a horse racing track in Cherry Hill. I remember going with my Dad when I was a little kid, years before the racetrack permanently closed its doors in 2001.
This year, the New Jersey State Fair was held at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in the town of Augusta. It featured a flower show, contests for the best produce in the state, tractor pulls, horse-riding, photography and art contests, classes, and food. Lots and lots of food.
So come along, then, on a weekend that my wife and I started by visiting family in upstate New York and finished with a long, lazy afternoon at the state fair.
Let’s begin:
New Jersey to New York to New Jersey
On a weekend in early August, this was our itinerary: central New Jersey to upstate New York to see family, to northern NJ for the State Fair, and then back home. It was a whirlwind thirty-six hours!Originally, I did not plan a blog post for this weekend. However, as our adventure grew (and grew and grew) I ended up with enough material to write up a recap of the weekend. Our story begins with lunch in the town of Fort Plain, New York.Our dining location was Fiddlehead Craft Sandwich, a pub in downtown Fort Plain. The menu offers a wide range of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, and the kitchen works to accommodate guests’ food allergies.Lunch was excellent! My wife devoured an order of gluten-free chicken tenders.If you enjoy barbecue, I can’t recommend the Classic Southern BBQ sandwich strongly enough. Slow-cooked pulled pork shoulder with a sweet barbecue sauce, topped with homemade coleslaw. Yum, yum, yum! We were both thrilled with our food, the service was excellent, and the dining area was spacious. We’ll definitely be back!Before heading out of town, we stopped by Sleepy Forest Bakeshop, which offers a variety of baked goods, including a selection of gluten-free items. My wife ordered a gluten-free pop tart, while I settled on some donut holes. So good!As we headed to see family near the city of Utica, we saw signs along Highway 5S for the Fort Plain Museum. Curious to learn more, we made a quick detour (also, if you can’t tell, we brought Grace, my wife’s 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, as our vehicle of choice).Fort Plain was constructed during the American Revolution as a frontier outpost. The fort has longs since been decommissioned, but a museum owns the hilltop where it once stood. Informational placards mark the locations of the fort’s buildings. A small museum sits at the base of the hill – we will definitely come back to learn more!After a fun stop at the museum, we departed Fort Plain and headed west toward Herkimer and Utica to spend time with family. A haze hung in the sky, the result of the wildfires in Canada this summer. Mercifully, conditions were far better than two summers ago, when the air was choked with dense smoke and ash across much of the eastern United States.The next morning, we departed our hotel and headed south to New Jersey. Rather than take the interstate, the most direct route involved a series of two-lane county roads through upstate New York. And corn. We saw lots and lots of corn.Our route home took us over a rather interesting bridge as we crossed into Pennsylvania… and thanks to my wife’s sharp eyesight, we learned that it is a National Historic Landmark as well!We had stumbled across Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct. Built in 1849 to convey water along the Delaware and Hudson Canal, this suspension bridge has since been converted to handle vehicle and pedestrian traffic (via the National Park Service).John A. Roebling, who designed the aqueduct, would later go on to design a far more famous landmark: the Brooklyn Bridge. We parked Grace in a small lot at the end of the bridge and decided to walk across.The aqueduct is a suspension bridge – the 8 1/2″ cables, designed to support a steady flow of water along the canal, are more than capable of supporting modern vehicle traffic. While much of the wooden superstructure of the bridge has been replaced, the iron cables are original – still in perfect shape after 179 years of use. It is the oldest suspension bridge in the United States.The bridge’s Toll House still stands, now repurposed as a small museum operated by the Park Service.It was pretty cool to not just see, but also to walk and drive across this working museum!The bridge offered a lovely view of the Delaware River as we walked back to our car.When we arrived, we were the only vehicle in the parking lot. While we were visiting the bridge, a motorcycle group showed up as well. One of the vehicles in this photo is not like the others. The riders we spoke with were friendly and courteous… but I paid careful attention when leaving so as not to accidentally reenact that scene from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.About 90 minutes later, we crossed back into my home state!Winding our way through some two-lane county roads, we arrived at our destination: the Sussex County Fairgrounds. As we bounced across a grass field, I was glad we had brought the Jeep!After stopping by the ticket booth (adults $15, children ages 6-12 $5, seniors age 60+ $5, and kids 5 and under enter free), we set off to explore.Our first stop? Checking out the map to get oriented to all the cool stuff at the fair!Agriculture plays a huge role in New Jersey’s economy – its nickname is the Garden State after all! The Snook Agricultural Museum tells the history of farming in Sussex County, NJ.One of my favorite exhibits was this mockup of a typical farm kitchen from the 1940s.What state fair is complete without some livestock in attendance?The fair offers numerous live classes, including cooking and baking demonstrations.Christmas in August? The Sussex County Fairgrounds also hosts the German Christmas Market of NJ at the beginning of December each year – this model train exhibit made for great advertising (hey, it caught my eye!).What state fair is complete without a contest to judge the best produce?One thing I love about my home state – we never take ourselves too seriously. I appreciate the warning label on the garlic display.4H is an organization that promotes youth development, especially in the fields of agriculture, engineering, technology, and science. 4H organizations from around New Jersey had a large hall dedicated to displaying 4H members’ artwork and science experiments.I particularly enjoyed the floral arrangements on display – I felt like I was in a miniaturized version of Longwood Gardens.What I (and my inner 8-year old) enjoyed the most was watching the tractor pulls, as drivers tried to see how far down the track their machines could tow a weighted sled.Of course, no visit to the state fair is complete without fair food! Burgers, pizza, fries, tacos, hot dogs, ice cream, fried Oreos, and more! My wife and I abandoned all attempts at being healthy and embraced an afternoon of greasy, fried junk that was absolutely delicious!The one area of the fair we did not spend much time exploring was the amusement rides. While I enjoy a good roller coaster, time was short and waiting in lines to take a ride wasn’t in the schedule for us. Looked fun, though!The state fair is also an opportunity for employers to connect with potential new employees. For instance, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service had a very cool recruiting display.After a fun (if a bit warm!) afternoon, it was time to climb back into Grace, turn the air conditioning up, and head home!Yet again, Grace transported us in comfort and ease on a long weekend road trip. 125,000 miles has passed, and 130,000 miles is in the not-too-distance future. Onward!
Garage Updates
My Acura TLX recently made a pitstop at Bridgewater Acura, my local dealership, for an oil change and tire rotation. A small price to pay for miles and miles of reliable service!The dealership frequently puts classic Honda and Acuras on display. I absolutely loved their latest showcase – a second generation Honda CRX. My stepmom helped teach me to drive on her 1989 CRX, so seeing this gem brought back a wave of good memories.Finally, I had the dealership pull a sample of used motor oil from my engine, which I’ll be shipping off to Blackstone Labs, an Indiana-based firm that analyzes motor oil to determine engine health. Stay tuned for the report in an upcoming post!
Wrapping Up
What started as a weekend to spend some time with family quickly turned into a wonderful road trip adventure. From great meals, to unexpected history lessons, to spending an afternoon enjoying the best of what New Jersey has to offer, it was a lovely time.
Thanks for coming along on yet another adventure down the open road ahead.
That state fair looks a whole lot more wholesome than ours down here in Texas! Sure we have the livestock, etc., but it’s become way too expensive and commercial for my liking….plus, the immense crowds of people is just too much! The only reason I’ll go to ours is to look at livestock and the cars LOL!
I laughed pretty hard at the Pee Wee comment there!
So glad you enjoyed the post – the NJ State Fair was really cool, and a lot smaller than the bigger state fairs around the nation. Made for a fun time.
Glad you appreciated the reference to THAT SCENE in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure… and thanks for reading!
The Open Road Ahead 
That state fair looks a whole lot more wholesome than ours down here in Texas! Sure we have the livestock, etc., but it’s become way too expensive and commercial for my liking….plus, the immense crowds of people is just too much! The only reason I’ll go to ours is to look at livestock and the cars LOL!
I laughed pretty hard at the Pee Wee comment there!
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So glad you enjoyed the post – the NJ State Fair was really cool, and a lot smaller than the bigger state fairs around the nation. Made for a fun time.
Glad you appreciated the reference to THAT SCENE in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure… and thanks for reading!
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