You can be sure that the Fair’s guest relations staff got more questions than usual this year as patrons tried to find their way around the reconfigured grounds.
Category: Around the grounds (Page 9 of 12)
This little cutie showed her exuberance at the Fair by dashing around the Iroquois Village.
This oversized chair sponsored by Pettis Pools was a popular spot for photos during the ’16 Fair.
New York’s Got Talent–as these two glamorous dancers proved at Talent Showcase.
The neon glitz and glamour of the expanded midway at the New York State Fair was offset by the mostly vacant space in the grounds’ wild west. It was a new and somewhat startling nighttime dichotomy–bigger and brighter with more rides than ever before bordering on a dark, open space.
State Fair Hound will keep on top of coming changes in that area and all around the Fairgrounds for 2017 with stories and photos all year.
When the 2016 New York State Fair wrapped up on Labor Day, many contributors went home with ribbons won in a wide variety of competitions over the course of the 12 days. Categories included culinary arts, livestock of many types, fine arts, agricultural pursuits from honey to Christmas tree to roses, and crafts such as those pictured above.
No doubt some of the competitors are already planning their entries for 2017.
The new York State Fair got some notice on the west coast when the following article, 
submitted by Hound correspondent Mike Greenstein, appeared in the Seattle Times under the heading “Blame It On Rio.”
Vandals damaged a sand-sculpture likeness of Justin Bieber at the New York State Fair. No truth to the rumor that four members of the U.S. swim team urinated on it.
All kids love going to the New York State Fair, but some are there for more than a fun time.
This Haudenosuanee girl delighted a crowd in the Iroquois Village.
This young cowboy practiced his roping skills outside the horse barn.
The space known as the infield is gone from the 2016 New York State Fair and that area, once home to the Fair’s largest RV parking lot, is now occupied primarily by the expanded Wade Shows midway. A new RV park has been built on the site of the demolished Grandstand. 
The new campground has increased capacity from 222 to 313 spaces, all 20 feet wide, 40 feet deep and angled to allow access.
“Most important is it’s full-service now,” Acting Director Troy Waffner told State Fair Hound. “It has water, sewer, electric, which is properly graded so everything gets 50 amps now. It’s all graded in stone. It’s not finished, there’s going to be six inches of topsoil put in after the Fair. But since it’s graded, when it rains, it doesn’t turn into a swamp. It’s not lakefront property. It doesn’t turn mushy. It’s a much better presentation, a much better stay for the people.”
While this year RV park residents have had to make do with a gravel lot, the promised grass will add immeasurably to the ambience and comfort of the landscape. 
In terms of noise, campers have replaced the roar of Grandstand concerts and motorsports for the din of thrill rides and the screams of daredevils, an arguably even trade.
The mottled sky makes this swinging trip even better.