My Epic NJ State Fair Week In Pictures

This was definitely an Epic Week with The New Jersey State Fair Sussex County Farm & Horse Show. Probably going to be more pictures than words with this edition. First and foremost, I want to thank the many folks who worked so hard to make it happen. It was so wonderful seeing smiling faces at The Fair for the first time in two years. So many of my friends worked so hard behind the scenes for so many months to make it happen. You can tell people were hungry to bring back The Fair. I could sense that in the weeks leading up to it where there was even more demand than I had ever seen in my 7 years being here in Sussex County, New Jersey.

Monday afternoon, the line was approximately 20-30 people deep at Noon when I arrived. Normally I do my afternoon show on 102.3 WSUS Sunday, Tuesday and Friday during Fair week. This year we decided to change it up and have me do my show from there everyday during the week. I try to arrive at The Fairgrounds by Noonish to set up all of our broadcast equipment, and then do a couple of laps around The Fair to take it all in. Quite often I'll spot something during one of my laps that I like to mention when I'm doing my show live from The Fair. During most years when I arrive at Noon on a weekday, I walk right up to the front gate immediately without any traffic. This time around, to see a line 20-30 when I'm usually the only one at that time was a fun experience.

I won't be able to give stories in chronological detail, because after being in the hot sun 90+ degree weather for 6 straight hours, 5 straight days, all of the days honestly blend together. Especially when the weather was almost identical, only change was that each day got hotter as the week continued. It seems like every single day we had chances of strong afternoon thunderstorms, and by golly every single one of them drilled us. At times The Sussex County Fairgrounds resembled Noah's Arc. (Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but you get my point.)

When you're there everyday at The Fair, you develop a special bond with all of the folks who work at The Fair. These folks are basically a touring group. I learned Oscar The Robot's friend Jim, he lives in Georgia. He was so appreciative that Steve Andrews asked a question about him during Jersey Strong Fair Theme Trivia last week. The ambassadors in the men's room, they appreciated when I thanked them for their positive attitudes. It isn't always easy to stay positive when you're that hot. Was I sweating? Often not. The high heat plus humidity made you dehydrated so much I didn't sweat, even if I drank 8 bottles of water per day. It was intense.

Tuesday night, our annual WSUS Kids Games went off without a hitch. Steve Andrews mastered it just like he always does, and our new Promotions Director Jim Egan did great learning on the fly too. It was so wonderful seeing many happy families having fun competing in our Kids Games. Some went out of their way to tell me their kids have done it every single year we have done it. Our timing was absolutely perfect. The skies were cloudy most of the day, and at around Noonish I started to feel some sprinkles. Fortunately for us, the rain didn't start until ten minutes after our event finished. Talk about a lucky break.

My work besty Shawn and I then enjoyed a victory beer in the craft beer tent while it downpoured. We also had perfect timing on that, the second we finished our beer the rain stopped and we were both able to leave dry!

Friday night our 103.7 NNJ Battle Of The Bands went terrific. Borasio mastered that just like he always does. Everyone had a great time enjoying the show.

I still think that the cows were mooing more at me because they learned that I've started to love grilling the past few years. Andrews thinks I'm crazy, but I'm telling you, it's real!

By Friday night, I was fried. Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I had a chill night at The Moonshine Tiki Bar on Campus in Vernon. It was great to see some of our friends.

Saturday Meg and I had a quiet day with family where I took her, Awesome Mommy Rita, and the kids out to lunch. Saturday night I cooked a pepperoni pizza from Cape Cod Cafe Pizza, based in Brockton, Massachusetts. Yes, this is that same frozen pizza I brought back from New England to have Steve Andrews and Borasio try to show them how superior it is.

Saturday while in Hackettstown, I made it a point for us to swing by the pickle store. It's such a hilarious conversation, folks never believe me when I tell them there is a store out there that sells just pickles. Well, pickles and hot sauces. I have created monsters because they're the best pickles I've ever had. I usually go for the full sour pickle jars, but now we are hooked on Spicy Garlic pickles. I used to have to bring back a jar of pickles. Now I bring back FOUR. LOL. Mayor Paul, Artie, and Marky all got spicy garlic pickles. Then I gave a jar to our besty Carrie. She was impressed too. You can find out more about Kyle and Kilhaney's Pickles by clicking here.

Sunday I made it a point to try to not accomplish too much. I'm filling in for Steve Andrews on our 102.3 WSUS morning show Monday and Tuesday of this week on top of doing my afternoon show. Since I'm doing double duty, trying to not burn the candle at both ends too badly.

Sunday afternoon Meg and I did our goodbye beer at The Cottage in Franklin. We then ran into my Jet Fan Friend Dylan. We enjoyed running into him. It's so nice to enjoy a beer at the bar with a friend you run into.

Meg and I both left after a beer, because we heard that our friend Vince was going to be visiting. Our dear friends Vince and Penny who also love to support me and my Pet Of The Week program. They also support Father John's Animal House. Even though they moved to Florida in the past few months, whenever they're back we pick up without ever missing a beat. They're amazing friends.

I went back to The Cottage later, joking it was a double header for me to see Vince. We had some laughs with Vince, Buckeye Paul, Packer Fan Patrick, George, Kenny and Harold.

Sunday night I was in bed by 8:30 to wake up early for the morning show.

Overall we had a wild, action packed week, that's for sure. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend!