The Ohio State Fair can be described as the following: hot, humid, jam packed with people, and full of great memory making moments! At times, the Fair was a little overwhelming, with mass amounts of people flooding our trailer and wanting to know why we had a giant greenhouse on wheels with us. A big thing we came across at the Ohio State Fair was kids – on this trip, we talked to more kids than ever before! I must admit it felt good to see the kids show interest in the Greenhouse Education Center (GEC), especially since we had the World’s Largest Mobile Candy Shop parked right next to us! None of us missed the irony there. With all the Fair food around us, it was hard to eat healthy at first, but the unhealthy options got old fast. Before long, eating a crisp Red Bell Pepper with a side of Cherry Tomatoes was all I wanted!
When we say the Fair was jam packed, we’re not exaggerating. During the day, there would even be a parade that marched right past the GEC, which happened to be a blessing in disguise – it gave us a little bit of a breather before we talked to more people. On top of parades and people in every direction, there was even action in the sky – there were helicopter rides flying overhead every 15 minutes! You couldn’t look anywhere without a total sensory overload – this was a completely different experience compared to a school or retailer event, that’s for sure.
For this trip, we also got some help from our friends who work at the NatureFresh™ facility in Delta, Ohio! We met their crew and watched them jump head first into speaking with visitors. Angel, one of our helpers from Delta, stayed the whole weekend – he was having way too much fun to leave! Having a few extra hands at the Fair was extremely helpful, and we are super happy they were there.
Although talking to so many people got exhausting at times, it felt good to be sharing the knowledge about NatureFresh™ and our growing processes to such a huge number of people. Many visitors could not believe how high our plants were growing – you should have seen their faces when we told them these plants were small in comparison to the ones back in Leamington, ON!
Even though we were pretty exhausted most nights, we still found some time to relax and have some fun, unique experiences. We had the opportunity to go to a Brothers Osborne concert on the first night, as well as enjoy some classic ‘State Fair’ attractions. As a team, we went on a few of the rides – my favorite was riding the Ferris wheel as a team.
Overall, our team had a great time visiting the Ohio State Fair – it was a fun, unique experience, and based on how the fairgoers reacted to the GEC, I’m sure everyone would enjoy having us there again next year if we got the chance!
