OC Fair Deals and Yummy Fried Goodness!!!

I absolutely LOVE the County Fair. Here where I live in Orange County, we have the Orange County Fair.  Every year I look forward to stuffing my face with fried foods, playing games to win stuffed toys, checking out the collections from people in the community,

visiting the livestock and petting zoo, chillin in the wine garden, seeing some awesome concerts and buying a bunch of stuff I think I will use daily that is usually used only once or twice from the Parade of Products.

This year has been no different from any other year, except for the fact that once again, the OC Fair has outdone themselves with crazy new fried goodies.

I was fortunate enough to be invited on a food tour as a blogger and got to try some of the yummy fried fatty goodness!!! See Tom’s foodie blog for an extensive write up about the fried warm, delicious goodness for 2012 as this year I am focusing mostly on the deals at the fair.

I will say that out of the five food stops we made on our food tour. I tried many fabulous items, my favorite being the beer battered bacon from Bacon-A-Fair that came with sides of ranch & bbq sauce.  The price point was a little high at $12, but for the amount of bacon and fried goodness you receive, there was plenty to make it a meal for two people.

The best priced item I tried was the Tasti Chips which were made from fresh white rose potatoes.  The Tasti Chips vendor provided a nice portion of the fresh potato chips for $6.75.  The side items, such as cheese with bacon, ranch, bbq, etc were priced a little on the high side @ $2.50 each. Since fair food is so highly priced, it is important to take advantage of the deals I have shared below. If you take advantage of these deals, everything evens out.  My tummy was not used to all of the heavy food and recovery took awhile, but we are planning to get more of the fabulous fair food next week including my favorite, the Fried Kool-Aid!!

My main point of this post is to cover the fabulous deals offered at the fair. My High School students love visiting the fair, but are always low on cash, so they need specials.  I have been advertising OC Fair deals with my students, so they could take advantage of the saving some cash.

I recommend to all of my friends and family to always look for specials and deals before going anywhere. There is always some kind of a promotion to take advantage of and the fair is no different:)Upcoming Fair specials this year are as follows:

DAILY   – Heroes get in free All Military (Active & Veterans) get in free with   i.d

WE   CARE WEDNESDAYS–   August    1 – one free admission ticket & 1 carnival ride ticket with 5   gently used clothing items   August 8 – one free admission ticket & 1   carnival ride ticket with donation of one new school supply item worth $5

THURSDAYS   – free admission all day for youths under the age of 12

FRIDAYS  –   Senior day (60+) $2 off admission plus free   Ferris wheel & merry-go-round rides all day   $2 tastings of fair food from noon to 4 (this   includes a great variety) see for daily specials   $2 rides and $2 games from opening till 4pm

FRIDAYS   – SUNDAYS – Ride the bus to the fair & get $2 admission to the   fair!  Bus ride $3 round trip

SATURDAYS   & SUNDAYS – Arrive at fair between 10 & 11 & get $2   fair admission

SPECIAL   PROGRAM – Ages 5-11 can read 2 books & write a book report   with this form & submit to the information booth to get 3 free ride tickets

WEDNESDAYS   & THURSDAYS – carnival promotion $30 Carnival ride wristbands   plus 2 free games! *sold until 5 & valid until 8pm

PARKING – In addition to the specials above, please note that parking is $7 for cars, but if you park across the street at Orange Coast College when the school  is not in session, the parking is free!!  That is what I do.  There is also free offsite parking.  Free parking and shuttle service are available on Saturdays and Sundays from the Experian parking structure off the Bristol Street exit of the 405 freeway. The free shuttle operates from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.

AVOID LINES – Buy your tickets online: http://www.ocfair.com/2012/buytickets/fair_admission.asp (* must choose the ‘TicketFast’ print-at-home option to waive service charge)

GO TO A CONCERT– When you purchase tickets for a concert at the Pacific Amphitheater, you get a free ticket to the fair for the day! We are going to see Cinderella & Sebastian Bach next Friday, August 3:)

OC Fair Coupons* Ralphs Grocery Store: Purchase at least $10 with your Ralphs Club card & receive a coupon to purchase up to 5 OC Fair general admission tickets for only $5 each, before 5pm Wednesday – Friday.

I hope the above information is helpful when embarking on your Orange County Fair journey this summer 2012!!  The Orange County Fair goes through August 12, 2012.  Be sure to check out the adorable wallabies in the petting zoo & don’t let the goats eat your hair like one of them proceeded to do to me.  I wound up with chewed up wet ends of my hair without realizing it when I bent down to pet a pig. LOL

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