The Big E!

About a week ago I was fortunate to meet up with my friends Larry, Katie, and Kayce at the Big E.

I've only been once before, last year, because Adam isn't really a fan. It kind of reminds me of the fair that I used to go to when I was a kid, The Sussex County Fair (now, the NJ State Fair). It's got all the typical fair things, like fried foods on sticks, butter sculptures and scary looking rides. It's still fun to go walk around.

The one thing that's different about this fair is that since it's all-New England, they have state houses for each of the New England states where they sell state-related goods. There was everything from chocolate-covered bacon (Connecticut) to wild Maine blueberries, to honey (Massachusetts), and even Lego (Connecticut). I think every state except Rhode Island had some sort of maple related product, like the maple cotton candy pictured below.

We walked down one of the main streets on the fairgrounds and snacked on some fried cheese curds (which were possibly the most amazing thing I've ever eaten at a fair), saw the Vitamix demo (Larry is BFFs with the demonstrator), and I got a free Yankee Candle car jar that apparently smells like South Deerfield.

By the time we were finished watching (and snacking at) the Vitamix demo, it was starting to become golden hour. That magical time when the sun sets and everything has the most beautiful color to it. We wanted to get over to the rides when the sun set to get some golden hour shots. We had some time, so we decided to stop and see the baby piggies first. Awwww.

The sun was setting and it was a lovely night. I had some fun taking double exposures, like the one of Larry using his camera below. I also got to ride the big yellow slide with Kayce earlier in the day, which was probably a good thing, because the sun was directly on it when we walked by again at sunset.

Last night, I met up with Larry and his friend John at the Big E again (the $6 after 5 PM deal is pretty darn good) to take some long-exposure night-time shots of the rides. I was also trying out the whole double exposure thing again and got a shot of me looking like Jem from Jem and the Holograms. I'm truly outrageous. And truly serious.

I have no idea how I got this shot to come out like this. I think the tripod moved or I may have had the camera set to a double exposure and didn't realize. Either way, I think it came out pretty rad.

That's it for the Big E. I probably won't get the chance to go back again ever, since it's only for 17 days in September of each year. I'll just have to find another fair to go to out in Pittsburgh. I'm sure there are a few.