This year I was lucky enough to get some free tickets to the San Diego County Fair. Last night, we trekked up to Del Mar to check out “Commotion by the Ocean”.

The Del Mar Fair (DMF) is your basic county fair, with rides, bad food, lousy music, and a flea market stretching across several massive hangar-style buildings. Parking is in a massive dirt lot, and everything is designed to make you broke as quickly as possible.

My Wife-to-be exclaimed “This is just a glorified Adams Avenue Street Fair”, and I tended to agree. The Fair is certainly under-whelming. Given the ticket price (we didn’t pay), plus $7 parking, plus overpriced food, plus any rides (we only hit the ferris wheel), midway games at $3 a pop, you’re lucky to get out of there without breaking the bank.

Despite the high prices ($9 for 2 ribs and some fries), the fair features a crap-tacular atmosphere that can only be described as “Dirt-Farmer Chic”.

There are a few high points, however. The fine display of Flowers is pretty great, as are the sows, cows, goats and sheeps.