Archive for the ‘fair’ tag
South Carolina State Fair 2021: 24 October 2021 no comments
I believe 2020 is the only South Carolina State Fair i have missed since starting the blog (and I had missed very few before that), so it was nice to get back this year.
There were a number of changes in this year's edition, both major and minor. The major change would have to be that the venerable grandstand, where numerous well known (if not then at their peak draw..) acts have performed over the years is gone. In its place was a circus Big Top tent where a free circus was performing several times daily. I don't know if this is a stopgap, or will be a permanent feature. Also this year, the performance tent generally set up to the left of the corridor leading to the agricultural displays was gone, and in its place was a set of bleachers in front of a space for small outdoor acts. When I was there, there was a torch-throwing duo working. (They had an amusing patter: Hey, maybe this isn't that impressive, but it's better than you coudl do!). To the right of the agricultural corridor, where there generally are bleachers and some sort of animal act like racing pigs, they have turned the orientation 90-degrees witht the bleachers backed up to the corridor and a covered stage up against the art building.. Where the Steel Building (which I still miss) once was, instead of the dinosaur park they have done the past several years, they had a collection of Frontier attractions, including a working glassblower. (Unfortunatey he was on break when I went by -- it's a fascinating thing to watch).
There were a few noticable changes on the Midway as well. Probably the biggest of these was the absence of the Log Flume from its usual spot near the southwest corner. To fill that spot, they moved one of the Bumper Car setups from its usual place on the north corridor. They also moved the junior Bumper Cars from the usual kids' midway to the central corridor. As an aside, it's something of a travesty that armband guests get expedited access to the rides over ticketed guests. When there are only 9 working Bumper Cars, and they fill 6 of them from the expedited line, it's just too much. I have the feeling that some of the fun-house/haunted-house attractions against the back wall were different this year not because I recall the names, but I think some of the carnival artwork I usually try to get pictures of was missing. Finally, the girl sitting in a big lemon selling lemonade at the west terminus of the skyway was gone this year. It's a silly thing, but I liked that lemon.
As far as I could tell, the crowd was of a typical size. I saved a bit of time pre-buying a ticket at Circle-K, but in the end I had to walk back to the car once because they did not like my camera belt carrying case. I think next year I will just stuff the case in my pocket as I go through the gate.
If you have followed these posts, you know what I like, and that hasn't changed. So there is plenty of neon and the usual yearly subjects past the break.
South Carolina State Fair 2019: 20 October 2019 no comments
I'm afraid I didn't get all the pictures I wanted at this year's State Fair. I usually get a bunch of neon shots at night back in the midway area, and a night video shot from the skyway. This year, it started to rain just as it was getting dark, and that put an end to the outdoor part of my visit.
I didn't notice any particular changes this year, other than that the dinosaur exhibit in the old Steel Building site was not back this year, and that the Rocket was done up in candy stripes for its 50th anniversary. This year was also the 150th anniversary of the fair as a whole, an occasion noted in the annual sand sculpture.
Anyway, it was fun, as usual, and I had my "fair food". Hopefully next year, I will get my normal assortment of pictures and video.
South Carolina State Fair 2017: 22 October 2017 2 comments
Well, this is the 9th South Carolina State Fair post here, so you probably know the drill by now. I like what I like, and I take pictures of it. I moved some pictures around to provide an entrance sequence, but as you can tell, I actually ended up up at the fair on two different days this year. I still miss the Steel Building, which was a bit more down-market than the new commercial exhibits in the new art building annex. In particular, no grey market videos, and no handwriting computer. This year, the flowers were moved in with the art, and the agricultural exhibits moved across the way where the flowers used to be. I didn't get into the animal area, so I don't know if the baby duck slide was still running.
I think I was running the camera at ISO-800 this year, higher than previously, and I'm not entirely happy with the results as the frequent bright lights interspersed with the booths tended to drown out everything else.
South Carolina State Fair 2016, Fairgrounds: 23 October 2016 3 comments
I got back to town a bit late this year, and missed out on some of my State Fair usuals because the buildings closed early the final day, so no art, flowers, sand sculpture or baby ducks this year. I was able to have my annual Italian sausage sandwich, Fiske fries and ride the skyway, swings and bumper cars. Most of the regular rides were there, along with a couple of new, or at least re-painted wacky-house type walk-throughs. Apparently the rocket is no longer the "Time-Warner Rocket" and is just back to "The Rocket", though it does have a few new sponsorship plaques at the base. I still miss the Steel Building: That corner just does not feel right without it.
TELEVAC 86000 / CENTAURI-68000, South Carolina State Fair: 2012 38 comments
Once upon a time, computers were magical devices, "Electronic Brains", spoken of with tinges of awe and fear. See for instance the classic Hepburn / Tracy movie Desk Set. Nobody, in their day-to-day lives would expect to see a computer, and few people had any idea what they actually looked like. Everybody was sure, however, that they involved lots of blinking lights (and tape drives moving forever back and forth).
That first actually wasn't far from the truth. Early computers did have many lights, often signifying bits in various registers and program counters. They also had toggle switches (like the much missed computer in the old Columbia Science Museum) for setting all those bits.
The illuminated front panels of early computers loomed large enough in techie culture that you often found variations of the following sign posted in a computer room:
and the portmanteau word blinkenlights permanently entered the hacker lexicon.
So people were interested, a bit awed and a bit scared by the idea of computers, and had only a very general idea of what they could do and how they looked. Thus: The TELEVAC 86000.
This amiable faux computer has been making the rounds for as long as I can remember, which is to say, at least since 1965 or so, and probably prior to that. Every year, it would set up shop in the Steel Building or the Ruff Building and dazzle the passers by. How could you possibly doubt a handwriting analysis from the TELEVAC 86000? IT'S A COMPUTER! IT'S SCIENCE! IT HAS BLINKING LIGHTS!
While we never did spring for the analysis when my parents took us to the fair back in the day, I have the feeling that at the time, this wonder of technology dispensed pre-printed cards dissecting your penmanship -- certainly there were no portable printers available for such a travelling roadshow.
As the years went on, the TELEVAC did add a printer, and astrological predictions as well as handwriting analysis, but the basic blinkenlights front panel stayed fundamentally unaltered, even through the name change to the less antique sounding CENTAURI-68000.
By the time I actually dropped $3.00 in 2012, the whole concept was not too credible. Whereas in 1965, nobody had seen a computer, much less had a computer, and the blinkenlights represented (to this 5 year old anyway) the apex of science, by 2012 most everybody (including lots of the 5 year olds) had a computer, and everybody knew what one looked like.
Sad to say, the TELEVAC / CENTAURI did not make an appearance at the 2013 State Fair, and I'm afraid it is the end of an era.
South Carolina State Fair 2013, Fairgrounds: 20 October 2013 6 comments
Well, if you've been following Columbia Closings for a while, you won't find any real surprises here. I like what I like (mainly neon in the case of the State Fair) and you'll find a lot of what you found last year here this year again. I did try out the in-camera HDR setting of my LX7 some this year, and I think it works better for this kind of shot than it does for daylight ones where I've never really been happy with it.
I will say that for what should be an important anniversary year (150 years of the State Fair..) the Fair was a little sparse this year. It seemed to me that the artwork was fewer pieces spaced farther apart and the Steel Building (and the one to the right of it which name escapes me) had fewer booths this year, with some stalwarts missing. In particualr, I didn't notice the Hmong craft booth this year, and the Grey Market DVD booth was not there. There was also another surprising no-show which I'll mention tomorrow. And, granted it was Sunday evening, but still I didn't get to ride the bumper cars this year because I would have been the only car in the rink, and what's the fun of that?
Anyway, it was still fun to walk around, eat greasy food and watch the people and rides. Lots after the break!
(And check back in a few days when I finally have the skyride video uploaded..)
South Carolina State Fair 2012, Fairgrounds: 21 October 2012 16 comments
(Folks coming in from the link at the CarnivalWarehouse.com forum, you may be interested in my pictures from previous South Carolina State Fairs -- Ted)
Well, as always, the South Carolina State Fair was a good time, with lots of beautiful art, greasy food, neon in motion and oddball retail. If you've read one of these posts before, don't expect anything particularly new this year; it's pretty much the same sights I usually enjoy capturing. I didn't submit anything for the art exhibition this year, so no pictures of the pre-Fair ceremony.
I've got a couple of videos I'll add later as soon as I can get them uploaded to youtube. In the meantime, enjoy!
UPDATE 27 October: First video (cablecars) is uploaded above.
South Carolina State Fair 2011 Fine Art Exhibition Premiere & Awards Reception, Fairgrounds: 9 October 2011 3 comments
South Carolina State Fair 2010, Fairgrounds: 24 October 2010 3 comments
These nine pictures are attempts at HDR. I took a tripod, and set the closing-cam to do 3 exposure brackets (1 "under exposed", 1 "over exposed" and 1 "correctly exposed"). I still have had trouble getting anything reasonable looking out of Qtpfsgui though other folks certainly have. There are just too many knobs and levers for me, at least for now. I did find another free program called Picturenaut, which actually produces nice results with the default settings. The downside is it only runs on Windows.
All the night pictures were taken on 15 October and the day pictures on 24 October. As usual, the fair remains an evergreen experience and if you missed it this year, you should try to catch it in 2011.
Lots and lots of other pictures after the jump. Be warned!
