My Family's New Summer Tradition - The Great Allentown Fair

The slogan "The Great Allentown Fair, Don't Leave Summer Without It" has never rung more true than these past two years. With my two daughters now 13 and 10, we have taken advantage of the Grandstand concerts the past two Labor Day weekends to also visit the fair and festival portion of the fair. In 2011 we saw the boy band Big Time Rush, and this year @victoriajustice and Max Schneider. Although neither are household names they both put on a great show last night and better yet my kids had a great time. I actually planned ahead (I seem to do this more often in my 40's than I ever did in my 20's and 30's), and bought my tickets at the box office in March (no fees) and bought ride passes for the kids at an advance price discount. Affordable enough I was even able to buy an extra ticket for my 13 yr. old so she could bring a friend.
Since we planned to spend the day, we got to the fair around 2pm and gave the Allentown Civic Theater $5 for great parking across from the main entrance. Although I have not scene a show at The Civic Theater, this makes me feel good about supporting their efforts. Next the rides. We saw a 24" horse and signs to preview the world's largest horse, on our way to a wide selection of spinning, tossing and musical rides. Glad my youngest can go on all the rides and me and my wife settled in for a day of people watching.
Tried to dunk the clown, 12 pitches and a quick reminder why the IronPigs have not called me up this season. After a light rain shower pushed us into the exhibition hall, we got to enjoy cooking demonstrations by local Sodexho chefs, plus see the blue ribbon vegetables, cakes and traditional fair contests.
After the concert we finished off the night with Fried Oreos and Ice Cream, before heading home and saying so long to Summer. Wonder who will be playing the Great Allentown Fair next year?