Unspoken Rules: Indiana State Fair
• Parking is a madhouse, even on weekdays. Take the shuttle from Glendale.
• Scrambler ride then lemon shake-up, not the other way around.
• If you’re there for the best flower bouquets or prize-winning pumpkins, go early. You don’t want to see many of the organic items 10 days in.
• There’s sanitizer outside the animal barns for a reason.
• Catch the antique-tractor parade and the falconry show.
• If your heart can handle only one indefensible treat, make it the deep-fried butter—a chewy ball of dough with a gooey cinnamon center.
• Check out the flower gardens by the DNR Building. They’re all native Indiana plants.
• Share the mist machines.
• Kids in the cow barn will try to scare you by dangling a fake spider on a string. Don’t fall for it.
• Underrated: the Free Stage’s retro entertainment value. Morris Day & The Time, August 8!
• Want to haggle on a hot tub? Wait ’til the last day. Vendors would rather not haul them off.
