Photo TR: Three County Fair at Northampton, MA

[Generic Name]

The Three County Fair is one of those things one might do every year but for me it has slipped my mind the past few years. Last year was a visit to the Big E - the large state fair in MA - whilst the Three County Fair is just that; a small, county fair. That said, this year it seemed bigger than in past years, with more rides, a monster truck show, antique cars and farm equipment, as well as the requisite animals.

 

I arrived around 11:30 or so; parking was 5 bucks, entry $10, and an all-day-ride wristband $22 (around $37 in total minus food), making the fair affordable. I noticed the first thing I saw at the fair was a sky-screamer type ride; this must've been new since the last time I went there was a Wave Swinger. As for rides, the selection was decent. There was a Technical Park Streetfighter, a Chance Zipper, a Huss Rainbow-esque ride (I don't know the manufacturer), a Dartron Cliffhanger, an Eli Bridge Scrambler, a Himalaya, a Wisdom Tornado, a Wacky Worm of some sort, the Ferris Wheel, and some assorted kiddie rides, including a Zamperla Rockin' Tug. Ride selection was decent; I do wish there were bumper cars, since I'm a sucker for those, a carousel, since most fairs that I went to had one at least. Oh, and a Disko; I always wanted to try one out. A wild mouse of some sort would be excellent, but since this was a small fair, the biggest in terms of coasters I was expecting was a Wacky Worm, which there was.

 

Rides:

Wacky Worm (dunno the manufacturer; Pinfari maybe?): 4/10: Not much to say about it other than I got another credit. It is a family ride, so that means small cars with no legroom. There was also a pretty vicious trim brake on the drop; I know it's there for a reason but it grabbed harder than I would've imagined.

 

Rockstar (don't know the manufacturer): 6.5/10: It pretty much was like a Huss Rainbow, maybe a bit smaller. Less forceful than it looked, but it was a fun ride. Good view of the fairgrounds at the top. Rode it twice because I did enjoy it the first time around; second time wasn't the best, probably because I had eaten recently.

 

Cliffhanger: 7/10: Standard Paratrooper/Cliffhanger ride. Was fun, gave decent forces, and the two other passengers I was with were having fun, so in all, was a good ride. Definitely different from a normal Paratrooper since you're laying on your stomach (like a flying coaster). Always worth a ride while at a fair in my opinion.

 

Scrambler: 8/10: I always loved these things, and this one was no different. This particular one - an Eli Bridge model - seemed to be a bit more forceful than the others I've been on, which surprised me. Great fun all around.

 

Vertigo: 6/10: Spun quicker than I thought it would do, and went up pretty high. Decent forces, but it was a short ride cycle, which was a bit of a bummer. Then again with the forces it was doing maybe that is why it was short. I prefer Wave Swingers over this though. I can't remember the manufacturer of this thing; started with an I (Intelliview or something).

 

Polar Express: 8.5/10: This was the Himalaya ride; loud as hell, but incredibly fun, with some airtime (!) on the hilly parts. Unfortunately, this ride for me came to a stop halfway since a girl wanted to get off the ride; needless to say because the ride was still on its cycle the ride ops couldn't let her out and the ride continued the second half of the cycle. Maybe this was the ride I should've ridden twice.

 

Fun Slide: 7/10: Typical carpet slide; very quick and I got some airtime on the last hump.

 

There were some rides I did not go on. The Ferris Wheel had a no single rider policy, so that was out of the picture. So did the Zipper, but I've always been daunted by those things and I really didn't want to go on it anyway, so maybe that came as a blessing in disguise. The Rockin' Tug looked fun; it seemed to be similar to a Disko; I guess you could say it's a Disko for kids? I didn't go on it because, yeah, it did look a bit "kiddie" but in hindsight maybe I should've gone on it. The Technical Park Streetfighter I also skipped; Frisbee type rides always gave me the willies, and this one was no exception.

 

Food was good; the fair had a good number of vendors, which served a bunch of different things. I went with a barbecue sandwich; wasn't the best I had, but it was good, and the lemonade that I had with it was delicious. Pricier than I thought it'd be, however.

 

The rest of the fair was also interesting. The antique tractors were fun to look at, and there was a large combine harvester that looked like it had come off a nearby field (in fact, I'd imagine quite a few of the tractors there were still in use). The monster truck show was disappointing sadly; not for the fact that the drivers didn't do well, but the trucks kept breaking down. It isn't surprising; these behemoths are able to jump at heights one would not imagine, so when they land of course there are going to be parts breaking, but by the same token, the breakdowns meant that the show was over quickly since all of them started to malfunction in one form or the other.

 

The animal turnout seemed to be on the smaller side as well; typically the rabbits and chickens had their own exhibition barns, but this year there was a smaller turnout for both, so the organizers put the chickens and rabbits in the same barn. The livestock barn was all sheep; they might as well have called it the sheep barn since that's all it was since there were no pigs or goats, and chickens and horses had their own barns. There was also the racing pigs, but the last few times I went the pigs didn't seem to race as much as, well, act as pigs.

 

Anyway, onto the pictures!

Rockstar, waiting for a load of passengers. If anyone has information as to who made this thing, please, post it here.

The Wacky Worm. You know what's wacky about it? The train has no antennas! It's also seen some better days, judging by the scuff marks on the base of the train.

Wacky Worms might as well be crack to coaster whores.

Looking at the picture I just noticed that Vertigo here is resting on wooden piles. That's a bit disconcerting.

Rockin' Tug doing its thing.

I feel kinda bad not going on it. It looked really, really fun!

A minicar ride. Interesting to see that all the wheels are turned (as supposed to the rear wheels staying straight).

The classic Scrambler.

Every park and fair should have these (and they pretty much do!).

I apologize for the next few pictures being darker. I went into the shade of the rides and they came out like that. This is the Technical Park Streetfighter.

The Zipper is truly the king of the flat rides.

I know these are glorified Paratroopers, but I always liked Cliffhangers, even if they are a bit uncomfortable and are a pain to exit.

A Zamperla Balloon ride. I skipped this as well as the larger Wisdom Tornado.

I'm a gearhead, so I did visit the antique tractors and classic cars. Rather than bore you with a bunch of tractors, I'll just post this one. That said, if you want to see more, I do have them so let me know!

People keep these chickens as pets (and obviously showbirds). There were no meat birds here, and the chicks they had were either going to be egg producers or showbirds and pets.

Underneath that fur is a rabbit.

I'm not sure if this is some kind of chicken or space alien. Let's go with space alien.

Ok enough of that, let's get back to the rides! Here's Polar Express. Not sure of the manufacturer of this one.

There were two funhouses at the fair. The first one (not pictured), was a traditional one that was, well, lame. This one is a Hall-of-Mirrors house and was actually good. European funhouses are still better in my opinion.

The last picture I leave is that of the Fun Slide. These are hit or miss typically, but this one was a hit.

[ratdogg68]

Looks like a nice fair, with a descent midway, thanks for sharing.

[Nrthwnd]

I like European carnival fun houses AND dark rides as well.

Thanks for sharing your visit.

[Generic Name]

I like European carnival fun houses AND dark rides as well.

Thanks for sharing your visit.

No problem!

 

The fun houses here were walkthroughs. No dark rides here, but I'm hedging on some being at the Big E coming up.

[chuck]

Nice photos. Rockstar is made by ARM Rides. The Wacky Worm looks to be a Fajume model. But hard to tell since several different companies make it. The Polar Express is made by Wisdom. The wood piles under Vertigo is called blocking. It levels the ride when it's set up on uneven ground. Very common to see.

[DoinItForTheFame]

The Zipper is truly the king of the flat rides.

I love watching this ride! It is so amazing to watching in action! However, riding it? NO!! Unless they install barf bags in the cages! Until then I will happily watch!

 

I know these are glorified Paratroopers, but I always liked Cliffhangers, even if they are a bit uncomfortable and are a pain to exit.

I do however love these rides! They make my chest hurt after a few rides, but they are still fun!