Kane Co Fair

Hard to call it a «county fair». Since we like Dupage County Fair so much, we figured we’d try Kane County this time too. I saw discount admission tickets on the website for $ 7 each which helped my decision. Nice for my wife and I, saving $ 3 bucks each, but then they had no option to buy the regular priced $ 5 tickets for the kids. Oh well, would still save a few bucks overall, so went ahead. Tried to purchase 4 tickets, then got hit with a $ 6 «convenience fee» at final checkout. Said forget it, why spend $ 34 for the online «discount tickets» when the regular priced tickets at the gate would be $ 30 for us all. Got there, looked at all the animals: rabbit tent, pig tent, then cow tent… took about ½ hour, mostly trying to swat flies off some pigs. Poor pigs were in obvious agony, some with literally dozens of flies biting at their backs as they tried to nap. Every 10 seconds they would twitch or roll, trying to stop the biting flies. For some reason it was just the pigs at the edge of the tent, where there was a little sunlight coming in, don’t know why these guys got the bulk of the pests. There must be some way to lessen the cruelty to these animals, it was very, very sad. I felt guilty walking away, they took a lot of pleasure in the few minutes of peace we gave them. Walked past a magic show and spent 20 minutes there. But then… there was nothing else! Well, there’s the carnival (5 tickets each for the «big kid» rides, @ $ 1.25 /​ticket), but the fair overall was lacking all of the cool «extras» that you find at the Dupage fair. Just off the top of my head, they have camel rides, donkey rides, much more animals, huge food court area, huge carnival, sheep shearing, exotic animal shows w/​giant snakes, etc, food contests, giant vendor area with dozens of cool booths, syrup making demos, milking, a little peddle car race track for the little guys, and so on and so on. In comparison, the Kane County Fair doesn’t come close.

I love taking my family to this fair. Unfortunately unless you go on Wednesday or Thursday the price is not worth it. If you have little ones, you’re paying double to go on the rides with your kids too. For a little more money, our family can go to Great America or Raging Waves. We’ll stick to the Sugar Grove Corn Boil!

My family and I went to the Fair on Thursday July 17^th. It cost $ 15 at the gate for admission plus an unlimited ride band. Or $ 5 admission and once you were inside a ride band cost $ 20. They did a good job telling us this up front. Compared to other festivals where the ride band is usually $ 20, I thought this was a great deal.
They had tons of rides for my kids, ages 3 and 7. We got there around 4 and stayed until closing/​11. I sill can’t believe the number of rides. They must have had every ride offered by the amusement vender.
The food was average fair food… over priced and just ok. Nothing healthy for you. The lemon shake ups were a huge disappointment and tasted horrible.
This was my first time to the Kane Fair, but we will be back next year.

Note: I did not attend the fair, here is my story about the Kane County Fair and Festival 2014.
My family and I wanted to see the Demolition Derby on Sunday at 7pm. After reading about it in the local paper for a couple of weeks we marked it on the calendar for Sunday and set our money aside ($ 10 per person). The family and I got ready and headed out. On our way, I pulled out my brochure I had gotten from the paper, I read it again and checked the times. In small print I noticed «additional admission charge», something I did not read up until this point. With being half way to the fair, we had to make some quick decisions… So what would’ve been a $ 30 evening of watching crash-​em-​up cars, turned into a $ 60 evening. Considering it was the last evening of the event, and some people only wanting to see the derby, why couldn’t the admission fee be waived? So the family and I kept on driving, and did not attend due to the exorbitant cost.

Your basic county fair with live animals, rides, food stands. The highlight was the rodeo championship. A nice afternoon activity with the family.

Vendors beware! Kane County Fair is not a good selling event! Attended last year and attendance in vendor building was awful. I was not the only vendor who met with disappointing sales compared to other area county fairs. Very long hours waiting for even a few people to walk by your booth.
Vendors are located inside main building, however no signage directed them our way. Sadly most spaces were occupied by companies selling home improvement projects, ie; Gutter Guard, Bath Fitter & Sears. It looked like a home show! This in my opinion is absolute kryptonite to a show. Who do you know that goes to fair to chat about home improvement! Note to fair promoters: fill your market area with items of interest, kids toys, specialty foods, crafts, and teen friendly electronics, that will entice customers to browse, spend some time indoors, and ultimately purchase!
Most customers told us they didn’t even know we were there! Luckily a thunderstorm came through Saturday night and crowds were forced to come inside. Many of us took advantage of the crowds to recoup our extensive losses.
Very poorly managed!

I go to a few of their toy/​doll shows in the spring and fall. Admission has gone up and that is very disappointing. If it rains, the parking lot is muddy in many areas, although they are on gravel. A lot of walking to get to the different buildings. It is fun to talk with the vendors and browse. I have been going for many years, but hopefully they will not continue to raise their entry fees.

Very large county fair: a little over-​priced for admission, but there are specific times and days with lowered admission prices and free rides! All kinds of vendors, petting zoo for kids, rides, 4H, demolition derby, bands, and fair food!
Deep fried everything! Deep fried snickers, deep fried twinkies, deep fried kool-​aid, deep fried turkey legs, huge plates of «chips» that’s really one huge chip all connected, elephant ears, churros, and more. All the best of the food that’s the worst, but oh so delicious!