Evergreen State Fair - Saturday, August 27th

[LuminousAphid]

Hello ladies and gents, I'm planning on heading out to Monroe WA this Saturday for the Evergreen State Fair, and it looks like they have a decent flat ride lineup so I was wondering if any of y'all wanted to join me. I haven't been there in years, literally since I was a kid. I went to the Puyallup Fair last year, and I would have gone to this one last year except all of my days off ended up being rainy. This year they seem to have a couple more rides so maybe it was worth waiting!

 

http://evergreenfair.org/148/Carnival

 

The KMG Freak Out is the main thing that drew my attention last year, and they have plenty of more sane rides, some good, some crap. Rock Star reminds me of the Falling Star(R.I.P.) at Wild Waves, they have a decent looking--but short--Larson/ARM-style drop tower, a big ferris wheel, and I don't know what the Zillerator Coaster is but it can't be that bad right? Anyway if anyone wants to join me up in the country, PM me and we can meet up there

Otherwise stay tuned for a photo and video-filled trip report!

 

edit; they also have a Zipper

 

edit; I should also say this is in Washington, I'm sure there are other Monroe's out there

[cal1br3tto]

^You may find (if you haven't already!) that Zillerator is halfway decent, depending on your tastes. It should be pretty smooth with hopefully a touch of airtime or two. It's just a Galaxi layout, but if you've ever ridden a really good Galaxi it probably won't be quite up to that level. I'll admit it was a HUGE draw for me when I saw it was gonna be at the fair in Ridgefield a few years back, but I was probably a bit overexcited.

 

I've always really liked Butler Amusements' ride selection, although I think their most outstanding rides don't come up to Oregon and Washington. My favorite fair of theirs was the California State Fair, but the Ridgefield one was pretty impressive, too. I've actually looked into attending Evergreen before, but it's a bit far.

[LuminousAphid]

^You may find (if you haven't already!) that Zillerator is halfway decent, depending on your tastes. It should be pretty smooth with hopefully a touch of airtime or two. It's just a Galaxi layout, but if you've ever ridden a really good Galaxi it probably won't be quite up to that level. I'll admit it was a HUGE draw for me when I saw it was gonna be at the fair in Ridgefield a few years back, but I was probably a bit overexcited.

 

I've always really liked Butler Amusements' ride selection, although I think their most outstanding rides don't come up to Oregon and Washington. My favorite fair of theirs was the California State Fair, but the Ridgefield one was pretty impressive, too. I've actually looked into attending Evergreen before, but it's a bit far.

 

Zillerator was OK, probably would have been better if I didn't have to keep an eye out for my backpack lying back at the station--again, no one wanted to go with me so I didn't have anyone to hold my stuff I thought Butler did a great job, most of the rides were in really good shape with most lights working etc. I enjoyed the KMG Freak Out, although the amount of spinning made me a little sick-feeling after each ride. It had a nice long cycle, they ramp it up to the max swing 3 different times, the final time with full spin as well Here's a video of part of the midway while I get the trip report going

 

[LuminousAphid]

I wanted to head to this fair last year, since I saw they had a KMG Freak Out and that was the first time I had a chance to ride a "big boy" ride like that. I rode SpinCycle a few times when I was at Silverwood, and I was left wanting a little bit more intensity from such a huge, impressive-looking ride. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the fair last year, so between then and now I have ridden probably the craziest pendulum ride around up in Playland, B.C., but I decided to go back this year to try this much smaller version and see how some of the other rides at the fair were.

 

I got a late start to the day, but I had supplies in hand for a gorgeous breakfast thanks to the best local butcher ever, Double DD Meats

 

I headed out and was surprised at the light traffic I encountered, although since I arrived so late I had to park out by the maintenance station for the fairgrounds. The fair actually had people in golf carts offering rides to or from the gate, which was pretty awesome, but I felt I should leave those for the old/tired people

 

The big ferris wheel and the drop tower were the first rides visible, even from the parking lot, and soon I saw the main reason I came, to be honest-- Freak Out

 

It really is a fun ride just to watch, so I looked and got some pictures first, deciding that I didn't want to potentially ruin my day right off by jumping on it. I went on the drop tower, which looks like a 70' A.R.M. Super Shot. Even at about half the height of their big towers this thing gives you a great shock for just long enough to get the blood pumping. It seemed the initial drop was a little more intense than the one at Silverwood, but maybe it was just me. Either way it was fantastic

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

After jumping off I felt energized and ready, so I got in line for the Freak Out. The line ended up right next to some of the carnival games, so occasionally I got to watch people pay $10+ to try to win a $5 plush toy, most of whom lost. It's amazing what shiny, bright things will do to people

 

Something I noticed right away is that most of the rides had decent new-ish lighting, and most of the bulbs were working- two nice details that gave it a more professional atmosphere than some carnivals I have visited. They had a nice Rock Star in the vicinity

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Standing in line I started to have a sore neck from looking up. It's probably something about the rhythmic movement, but I find these pendulum rides endlessly fascinating to watch. Here are some pictures I took while transfixed

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

This ride actually had a very nice cycle for a carnival, lasting about 2:30 and ramping up to max swing and down 3 times, the final with fast spin on the gondola, at which point it just gets insane. As the thing slows down they keep the gondola spinning, which is the part of the ride my stomach did not appreciate. I felt a little ill for 5 minutes, then went to find some decent fair food.

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

I found a fresh-dipped giant corn dog for $6.50 which is OK for the fair, and after showing down I tried some more gentle rides. I went to find the Zillerator roller coaster, which cal1br3tto says is a Galaxi, and I will take that as truth. It was OK, but probably would have been better if I didn't feel like I had to watch my backpack at the station

 

It was very industrial-looking and honestly it felt that way too, so I didn't take any repeat rides on it. The drops were fun but there was pain in how steep some of the transitions were.

 

Next was the Flying Bobs,or Thunder Bolt in this case. This is an older Chance ride without the fancy lighting, but it was still a hell of a ride. I tried the ones at the Puyallup fair and I think these either rotated faster or banked more freely, because these were pure awesome! I know it says don't rock the car but I was able to get it past 90 degrees on each upswing, and none of the ops said anything

 

Then it was back to the drop tower for a little adrenaline boost, then I went around to look at some exhibits, animals, etc.

 

 

- - -

 

After walking around the fair for a couple of hours and checking out all there was to see, I meandered back over to the midway

 

It turned into sort of a beautiful evening, making for some nice pictures, so I spent a lot of time doing that. They had a chance Yoyo that was really nice

 

 

I went on the Freak Out again and got ill again, but ice cream fixed me

 

As the afternoon wore on I hopped back and forth between doing rides and checking out other stuff, waiting for dark so I could take some night shots of all the rides, and of course experience them in the dark! I wished I could ride the big ferris wheel to get a nice view, but no single riders Is this really because they think people will jump?!?

 

Night time is always my favorite in places like these, with all the lights and sounds intensified. Butler Amusements did a great job with lighting and the look of the midway, kudos to them

 

The Zipper they had was running really well; it was the nicest Zipper I have seen, although that's not very many. Once again, no single riders

 

They had some classics like Area 51 (Gravitron), Scrambler, Tilt-a-Whirl, but the nice open-cabin Ring of Fire wasn't open

 

All the games were usually pretty empty, but quite often people would come up and drop $10-20 for a prize they liked, often to walk away with nothing. I just don't understand the part of the human psyche that gives in to these impulses, luckily.

 

The drop tower was still fun at night but I wish it was darker- the big floodlight was annoying and this thing goes slow so I sat on the opposite side

 

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying rides--that Thunder Bolt really was super fun--and eating random fatty things such as scones, fries, etc. I got caught staring at the Freak Out again, taking way too many videos and pictures

 

 

I went home pretty happy and full of fried food, so the day was a success. I would definitely go if you are in the area, they have some fun rides and the fair itself is pretty good--lots of concerts, races, animal shows, etc. I almost went back and entered some plants in the horticulture show, but I couldn't be bothered to get up at 7AM on Sunday for the walk-up entry period.

 

I hope you enjoyed!

[cal1br3tto]

Nice seeing your update--looks like a decent fair. I love a good Thunderbolt ride. I'm still glad Zillerator is alive and well, even if it's not so special.

[CaptainCrush]

That bacon....yummmm! Looks like a great fair, nice TR!