As I write this column, it is the eve of Labor Day — the final day of the 2025 New York State Fair.

I plan on attending Monday, the seventh day I’ve spent at the fair. I love going to the fair. That’s especially true as a father. My daughter loves the fair more than I do. Between Blippi, chickens, cows, goats, llamas, horses and more, she can be entertained for hours.

You won’t see me blast the fair. I do have some suggestions, though, based on my experience this year.

Centro park-and-ride in Auburn area

I understand Centro’s challenges. The decision to no longer offer a park-and-ride location in Cayuga County (or western Onondaga County) is due to a driver shortage. It is not reasonable to expect Centro to return to its old park-and-ride lineup with locations throughout central New York. Cayuga County had a few of these spots, as well as one in nearby Elbridge.

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However, it is clear that many in this part of the region no longer attend the fair because a park-and-ride location is not available. None of Centro’s three park-and-ride locations are convenient for fairgoers from the Auburn area because they need to drive to Syracuse. Two of three are east of the fairgrounds, meaning they would have to drive past the fair to get to those locations.

One possibility that should be explored is whether Centro can revive its Elbridge park-and-ride location. That was popular among Auburn-area residents because it didn’t require them to drive too far, and the trip from the Elbridge Fire Department to the main gate was fairly short.

More vegetarian options

I know what you’re thinking. “Robert, it’s the fair! Eat something fried and shut your yap!”

If I only attended the fair once, I would agree with that take. However, I spend the equivalent of a week (or more) there. I don’t want to eat like I’m 20 again as I approach 40.

One of my go-to options, Omanii’s, is no longer at the fair. The stand was located in the Pan-African Village and served a delicious grilled veggie sandwich. My mouth is watering just writing that sentence.

The fair’s brass often talk about diversity in its music offerings and other programming. Hopefully it can inject some diversity into its food vendors, too.

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Robert Harding

Open some buildings at 9 a.m.

The fair opens at 9 a.m., but many of its buildings do not. I write “many” because the barns operate on different schedules because of competitions that sometimes begin before the gates open.

If you want to go see the Ice Age Experience inside the Expo Center or the sand sculpture in the Center of Progress Building, you have to wait until 10 a.m.

For food vendors, I understand why the extra hour is helpful. It’s an additional 60 minutes to prepare for a daylong deluge of fairgoers. But for the non-food crowd, I’m not sure that extra hour makes a difference.

Bring comedy back

In my 15 years attending the fair, I recall going to two comedy shows at the former Grandstand. One was Jim Gaffigan’s performance in 2015, the final year of the Grandstand. He drew 10,132 attendees, which was nearly the same number as country music legend Hank Williams Jr. at the same venue.

The state fair has done an exceptional job bringing in a wide range of musical performers. As a comedy fan, it would be great to see one or two comedians at Chevy Court or Suburban Park. In this golden age of comedy, I am certain you could find comedians whose crowds could rival some of the biggest musical concerts at the fair.

Move your feet, lose your seat

I took my daughter to the Blippi show on Sunday and there was an intermission. During that break, several people left. They got their fill of Blippi and went to see other things at the fair.

With the mass exodus that occurred, I decided to upgrade our free seats in the back to free seats in the front (second row, to be exact). A few minutes later, I learned that the first five rows were apparently reserved for people wearing stickers. I overheard this conversation between security and another poor sap who, like me, thought we could move up. They were told they had to have a sticker to sit there.

Maybe this has been in place for a while at Chevy Court and I didn’t know it. (I can’t find anything about this on the fair’s website.) But for a free concert venue, if you move your feet, you should lose your seat. No exceptions. No stickers.

Government reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 664-4631 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on X @RobertHarding. 

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