LOUISVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — The 120th Kentucky State Fair began in Louisville today. The fair started in 1902 and has been in Louisville since 1906. Everybody at the fair has their own favorite part.
“Fair lemonades are to die for,” said Kelsey Baker.
“I love to see all the people, especially the children,” Kitty Dougoud said. “We love watching the ducks go down the slide.”
Tim Leister has manned the duckling slide for three years. “I think this might be the most popular attraction here,” he said. “The ducks, they seem great, they smell terrible though.”
Along with the attractions, the opening day kicked off some competitions as well.
“We have a few people judging livestock,” Baker said.
She had her own task earlier in the day, judging meat. “One day we’re all here, and then we go back (home) and go to school.”
The West Wing on the fairgrounds was filled with cattle. Kaileigh Prather has already won one award for cattle showing. She hopes to get another award in the Dairy Costume Contest with her cow, Pumpkin.
Prather said, “Pumpkin's going to act like the pumpkin and I'm going to be the vine.”
The awards, attractions, carnivals, and competitions of the 120th Kentucky State Fair celebrate a uniquely Kentucky coincidence.
“Well it's a big number because we have 120 counties,” Dougoud said. “This is the way that we celebrate all of them.”
This morning, the fair unveiled a new exhibit highlighting each of Kentucky’s counties with panels and pictures on a number of walls. A large state map also stretched out on the ground, and kids would run and stand on and around their home county.
The exhibit will be up, along with plenty of other things to do at the Kentucky State Fair, which lasts through August 25th.
Admission to the fair is $10, and if you pre-purchase online, your ticket comes with free parking.
