July 14, 2024

By Simon J. Lau

Today, we visited the California State Fair at Cal Expo in Sacramento. It has been a tradition since 1854, celebrating the state’s agricultural and industrial achievements. It features livestock exhibits, carnival rides, live entertainment, and diverse food options. I grew up in Sacramento, and every year during high school, I would visit the State Fair. When I left for college, I stopped. However, since COVID, I’ve revived this tradition.

My favorite part of the fair is the animal exhibits. Each year, they feature a variety of livestock, which generally includes cows, goats, and pigs, and also serve as an educational opportunity for the general public. Over the years, the livestock exhibit has evolved, incorporating new breeds and animals and demonstrating modern farming techniques. For example, this year was the first time I saw camels.

My favorite animals are the pigs. Last year, I missed them because they are only featured during the first week, and I visited during the second week. This year, I made sure we went on the opening weekend! We were also treated to a nice pig race, which was very wholesome and family-friendly.

This was unexpected, a capybara! These are the largest rodents in the world, native to South America. They are social, semi-aquatic animals often found near bodies of water, such as rivers, ponds, and marshes. The last time we saw one of these guys, it was hanging out in a cafe in Chengdu, China. I’ve always imagined them to be more active, but they kind of remind me of giant rats, though not as ugly.

Finally, the most hilarious and sadly put-together exhibit was the California’s high-speed rail exhibit. The high-speed rail was intended to connect major cities from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Initially approved by voters in 2008 with a budget of $33 billion, the project has been plagued by delays, cost overruns, and mismanagement, causing the estimated cost to balloon to over $100 billion. Currently, they only have immediate plans to connect Merced to Bakersfield, two Central Valley cities too small to warrant such expenses for a high-speed rail connection.

As one would expect, the exhibit was equally underwhelming. They used plywood cutouts to make poorly constructed renditions of the cabins, even going so far as to recreate a bathroom. Why? The whole exhibit was a failure. It made me even angrier that so much taxpayer money was wasted and continues to be wasted on this project. At this rate, our experience here may be the closest we ever get to “riding” in a California high-speed rail line.

That said, despite the blunders of the high-speed rail exhibit, everything else at the State Fair was wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. A+ on another awesome visit!