Empire State Fair with a flair

We had a chance to go to the Empire State Fair at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on Saturday.  It was great!  They have fun rides, awesome food, games, shows and attractions.  The day we went, May 4, they even had James "Murr" Murray from “Impractical Jokers” there signing copies of his new book, “Awakened.”   He was so nice.  We got to go on the bumper cars with him!  We crashed into him a lot.  We were all laughing. "He was super chill and cool,” said Jayden.

Of all the rides that we went on, we liked the bumper cars the best.  “My favorite ride was the bumper cars because you got to play versus your friends and you got to drive alone," wrote Basti Gonsalez.

The Music Express and The Claw were also crowd pleasers.  On the Music Express you sit in a car and the smaller person has to go in first.  When the ride starts, you realize why.  The cars go around and around over hills.  There is great music playing.  When the ride gets really fast, you get pushed to one side of the car that you are in.  The person next to you get smushed against you.  So if a bigger person sits on the inside, they will squash the smaller person sitting on the other side.  

The Claw seems to be a medium-level ride.  You sit with your feel dangling and a contraption that goes over your head and rests on your shoulders and chest.  When the ride starts, you go around and around and the entire ride swings slowly back and forth.  Suddenly, the ride starts to go around faster and the swinging get faster and higher until you are almost upside down.  Most of us loved this ride.  It was so thrilling, but Richard did not love this ride.  He felt the gravity pushing on him so hard.  He said, "I felt like my face was getting pushed back."  Stacey hated the ride.  She said, " It was very scary to me and I was like about to puke."

Some of us didn't like the Ferris wheel and the Ring of Fire.  "I didn't like the Ring of Fire because I feel like I was going to fall out of my seat and I felt it was like I was going to die." Basti Gonsalez said.  

"Something that I really hated was the Ferris wheel because it was too slow and also it stopped at the top, so I really didn't like it,” wrote Richard.

The swings ride looked really scary because it was really high and it looked like it was going to drop you down really fast.  "I was scared going on it, but after a while I got used to it.  I opened my eyes and I saw a really cool view," Stacey added.

When we found out that we were going to be going to the fair, our teacher told us that she would buy us funnel cake.  We had never heard of funnel cake.  Mrs. MaryKate La Spisa told us how good it was so we were really looking forward to tasting it.  We went to the funnel cake truck and ordered three different ones: regular, Reese's and chocolate topped, and rainbow sprinkle topped. They were all amazing.  "For my first experience eating funnel cake I really liked it," wrote Richard.

"The food here is amazing and that they have a lot of options. But it's a little bit pricey. Something you should try is the funnel cake with Reese's Pieces and it's very good.  I would recommend it to you. I also ordered a baby ice cream.  It was a little vanilla cone with sprinkles.  It was good.  We got a little treat because we were going on a ride so we wanted to eat something small," wrote Basti.  

Between 1 and 5, we rated the overall experience a 4.  We rated the Fair a 4 because there were some really fun rides.  You will find out that there is something for all sorts of daredevils. If you like scary and fast rides, there are some for you; if you are little nervous, not to worry, there are rides perfect for you.  Some of the attractions were not included with the price of your ticket.  But, we would still recommend going.  Bring a friend so you can crash into them on bumper cars.

The fair is here until May 19. Besides exciting rides and lots of food, there are other events going on such as live shark encounter, a lumberjack show, a petting zoo, a Wolves of the World show and BMX ride show. Find out more about the daily attractions and events by going online: empirestatefair.com