It is that time of the year, so I am just going to say it: The Big Fresno Fair is overrated.

First of all, let’s talk about the prices. After I spend $12 on my entrance ticket and $20 on parking, I am already $32 in.

That was just the price I spent for myself. Can you imagine a family of four trying to take their children to the fair? After everyone gets tickets, food and games, you are a few hundred dollars out.

Can we please talk about the price of food? I mean the corn dogs are overpriced, and you can, quite frankly, easily make them at home. Everyone is going crazy over the concession stands with fried foods, but have people never heard of flour and oil? 

Yet we wait for two weeks out of the year to eat them.

Let’s not get started on the Wells Fargo Agriculture Building or, as some of you may know, the exhibit area with different homemade crafts that have fruit art. Can we just talk about how wasteful it is that all of these fruits and vegetables sit in the exhibits for two weeks, therefore, all the fresh produce gets thrown away?

Another exhibition is the livestock area were we pet the animals and take pictures of them. Yet, little do people know, those little ribbons above them are categorizing them for those who will buy them to be killed and eaten.

And my god, those concerts. What is up with the line up? During my teenage years, the Fresno Fair was an event at which everyone knew at least some of the artists who performed. I saw a few of my favorite mainstream artists, one being Demi Lovato, for about $30 a ticket. 

Now we are paying $150 to see the same exact comedians four years in a row and having a lineup that audiences have no desire to see or, quite frankly, even know.

Let’s be real. The concerts are really the only thing that used to keep the fair going. I feel the allure has been going downhill at a rapid speed.

And then there are the fights. I mean, it is supposed to be a family affair for children to have the time of their lives. Can people at least respect that and stop fighting at the fair? If you have a beef with someone, can you just try to hash it out in a healthy way or at least take it outside the fairgrounds? 

I recently went to the Caruthers Fair located in a small Fresno County town. Let me just say, although a lot of the features are similar, that fair at least had free entry and parking. It made the experience much more enjoyable to be able to spend money on food and games rather than spending an arm and a leg just get into the fair.

The Big Fresno Fair used to be a place I looked forward to as a kid, but suddenly as an adult, the fair is sadly just not what it used to be, and I do not see that changing any time soon.