Come for the food, stay for the shows at the fair

The South Florida Fair is back in town, and with rides, farm animals and a variety of fair food, there’s something for everyone.

But with so much to do, how does one decide to spend time at the fair?

The food:

Walking around there is a plethora of food stands from which to choose. There’s the typical fair food like popcorn, funnel cake, nachos, corn dogs and lemonade.

But for a change, look for a black-and-red booth with flashing red lights: Bubba’s Bacon.

“Bacon’s the most amazing food there is,” said Devin Falcon, owner of Bubba’s Bacon. “You can put it with anything; you can wrap it with anything. It’s very versatile.”

Falcon’s menu includes Bacon Popcorn, Chocolate Covered Bacon, and the most popular, 1/4-lb Bacon on a Stick, grilled in maple syrup.

“It’s like eating pork belly on a stick. It’s very good,” Bob Pedraza, of Jupiter, said. “We were heading elsewhere and I said, ‘Oh, bacon. Got to stop.'”

“I wanted to do something really unique so I could do large events,” said Falcon. “Bacon is definitely unique and the way I do it, I think, is one of the most unique ways.”

After eating all that food it’s time for some refreshments. Fairs can have some pricey drinks like $3 for a water bottle or $3.50 for a lemonade.

Mama Jugs Fresh Brewed Ice Tea offers fair goers more tea for their buck.

“We do eight different flavors and can go up to 30 combinations of flavors,” said Michael Spano, co-owner of Mama Jugs. “You buy a 32-ounce jug with free refills all day once you pay. So you pay $6.50 and you’re done for the whole day.”

Though co-owners, Spano credits Kelly Elliot for coming up with the idea of Mama Jugs.

“We used to come to these [fairs] all the time and we could not believe the amount of money that people had to spend on drinks,” Spano said. “So the bottom line was we decided to come up with a concept, free refills all day long, and that’s what we did.”

With flavors like Rockin’ Raspberry and Wango Tango Peach Mango, and with three different booths to fill up one’s jug, fair goers can quench their thirst for iced tea.

The animal shows:

Carnival rides are nothing new at a fair but what about a Bengal tiger? At the new Bengal Tiger Encounter, fair goers are treated to not just one, but four beautiful tigers.

Born and breed in captivity, these giant cats have all their teeth and claws but act like a bunch of lazy house cats. Performing three shows on the weekends and two during the week will do that to a tiger especially after being fed pieces of meat as their reward for doing a trick.

Throughout the show trainers show off the tiger’s beauty and power while the announcer explains some interesting facts about the big cats.

“I didn’t know that soon they won’t be in the wild anymore,” 11-year-old Alec Anzalone, of Wellington, said about the tiger encounter.

“I didn’t know that there can many different colors in one breed,” said 12-year-old Daniel Heller, of Wellington, whose favorite was the white tiger.

Both boys were impressed with the cats and their growling.

“This is really cool,” Alec said.

“We do about five or six other fairs,” tiger trainer Felicia Frisco said. At age 21, Frisco is one of the youngest tiger trainers in the country.

“We want to get the message out that there’s less than 1,500 tigers in the wild,” she said. “By 2020, they will be completely extinct in the wild.”

From the exotic to the adorable and off the beaten path is the Ham Bone Express 3 Racing Pigs.

“We’ve been coming out here for three years and people seem to love it,” said Charlie Bogar, owner of the Ham Bone Express 3.

With 17 pigs, the show is divided up into four different races all with different themes. There’s the pigs from Hollywood, Calif. in their fancy racing numbers and the political pigs with names like Barack’o’ribs Obama. Each race has four cheering sections with a designated child cheerleader to allow for the most children to have fun and a chance to win a prize.

“We try to put some of that in there for the adults to put a little humor for them,” Boger said about some of the pigs’ names. “The main goal is the make the kids laugh and get them screaming.”

“I love the race and I was happy I was able to get called and I won a prize,” said 12-year-old Zykeria Edwards, of West Palm Beach.

The South Florida Fair, 9067 Southern Blvd., continues until Sunday. Visit southfloridafair.com for ticket and schedule information.

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