I've been to both the most recent fall and spring fairs in October and May. I LOVE fairs! I need to pay more attention to the names of the rides, but I made it out of them okay so that's a start. In the fall, I had a wristband so i went on every single ride there was. This last one, I just got tickets so i went on three rides total, and it was still a lot of fun. I highly recommend getting the unlimited ride wristband if you know you will be here for three or more hours. Sometimes you wait in line more than anything. There's just so many rides! Parking is usually free and easy to find here too. I haven't tried the food here yet, but the hard lemonade was good. One thing I didn't like about this last visit, was that Kate and I were waiting for the ferris wheel and the guy told us to wait for the next one even though there were plenty of seats available. We said okay and waited about five more minutes in line while the people in front of us rode the ferris wheel. Well then someone came around telling them to close up. So we waited in line for nothing and wasted our last few tickets because of him. I called the blonde guy out that told us to wait reminding him that HE SPECIFICALLY TOLD US WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE. All of a sudden he has a foreign accent and can't understand what I'm saying. He just keeps telling me that they are closed. SMH. We could have gone on another ride or you could have let us ride one with the other riders rather than stand there and do nothing. This would be five star review no doubt but thanks to him, it's not. read more

Oak Mountain State Fair - Lemonade - Festivals Near Me - Pelham, Alabama

First time going to this fair in Alabama! We live in Centreville AL and it's an hour drive! Overall had a good time! Everything is overpriced and food isn't the best! Most rides have a weight limit of 170 to 200 pounds max! Most adults weigh more than that! My 15 year old son had to ride the rides alone! The only ride we went on together was the Ferris whee! The operator a young blond guy was a jerk! My son and I got on car #13! It was very shaky and moved very easily! The operator yelled at me to stop rocking the car and said I would be removed if I continue! I wasn't rocking it at all and neither was my son! The ride started and the car was swaying back and forth! I told my son to stay as still as possible! Went around a few times then stopped at the very top when people were getting off the ride! While up there the wind started gusting and the car started swayin back and forth. Couldn't wait to get off that ride! Finally was able to get off and removed the safety bar without the assistance of the operator! He just shook his head at me! He was on a power trip or something! My son said that was the worst ride and the scariest in his opinion! read more

Fun times. Good special pricing on a Tuesday. Realllllly crowded. Everyone had the same idea we had apparently. Lol. Long lines to enter and at the rides. Like literally we spent our time holding places in line for our kids and all we came to do is eat lol. The kids had a blast and we have sore feet and back aches. Lol. Fair food is just that. Philly steaks that was really ground beef. Kese enjoyed it but it fell apart instantly. Bacon cheddar ranch fries were amazing and fresh . And super nachos which were amazing as well I love nachos. Funnel cake which would've been great if it was hot. We had fun minus the super long lines. Wish it was a bit bigger though. read more

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This fair was disappointing. In Savannah, we always have a huge fair come into town every fall and they have their own designated grassy spot. I thought this fair would be the same. It was in the parking lot and half the rides listed on their website weren't even there. I can't do the super intense rides (fear of heights and recent surgery) so we were limited to like 4 rides. The prices at the concession stands were outrageous. $6 for a small coke! It wasn't too packed when we went and I got my funnel cake and fried Oreos. This fair had a petting zoo with some exotic animals. I felt sad for all of them. Some were shaved and they all were in super small areas. At one point, Salley the camel was laying down and the worker came over and made her get up. The poor thing. :( Also sad was the seal show. I felt so bad that these seals had to perform and they had 3 to a tiny tank! The miniature horses were also made to race and a camel was made to stand up continuously on the concrete to let people ride on its back. Overall, I felt horrible for all the animals being made to work and messed with by all the children and people. read more

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My wife, son and I went to the Oak Mountain State Fair Saturday March 25th! Arrived there around 12:30 in the afternoon! Parked in the back parking lot area and came in the back way! This was our first time going to this fair! Did not know we came in the back way until walking around the park! Purchased our son an overpriced paper wristband so he could ride the rides! My wife and I are over the poster weight limits for the rides! Most rides are for up to 170 pounds! Most adults in todays time and age weigh 200 and up! So my son had to ride rides alone! Since we came in through the back way we had to walk to the very front of the fair grounds to purchase the wristband etc.. They didn't have one ticket machine at the rear entrance where we came! While we were there we ate some of the food which was way overpriced and tasted terrible! The vendor ran out of fountain drinks so we had to go to another vendor to get drinks! Some of the vendors were rude / impatient as well! Some of the people running the games were pushy trying to drum up business! They made you feel guilty for not playing their rigged games! There was one ride I purchased tickets for so I could ride it with my son! We decided to ride the Ferris wheel together! While waiting in line the guy operating it was relieved by this young blond guy that wasn't very good at operating it! I gave the idiot operator my tickets and my son showed his wristband! We got into the car which I found out later was car 13. You could barely move and the car would rock! The idiot operator yelled at me and warned if I continued to rock the car I would have to leave! I was not rocking it neither was my son. The ride started and the car we were in was rocking all over the place! I asked my son to please keep as still as possible! We go round and round a few times and the ride stops with us at the very top! The wind started gusting and the car started rocking back and forth! Felt like we were going to get dumped out! My son and I were hanging onto the safety bar! Finally the ride started again and we were able to finally get off! While the idiot operator was assisting other people in the car across from us we unlocked the safety bar and got out! The operator shook his head and said we weren't supposed to get out by ourselves! Not sure what his deal was but he was on some kind of a power trip and shouldn't have been operating that ride! My son said the Ferris wheel ride was the scariest and most dangerous out of all the rides he was on! Other than the crappy overpriced food, not enough bench seating, rude employees it was fun to drive an hour to go to this fair! The best part was my son had fun riding rides and we enjoyed some of the shows! The entertainers are very talented! Plus the sea lions were talented as well! read more

First , why do you not sell tickets online ? For this reason we left and wish we never paid $5 parking .

I miss the fair! It was So much fun! I hope it comes back soon. Unfortunately, it was cancelled this year due to the pandemic. Please come back soon! #Oak Mountain Amphitheatre #OMSSF read more

Oak Mountain State Fair - Concert during the fair - Festivals Near Me - Pelham, Alabama

This experience was a completely different from the last time I was here I mean don't get me wrong the fair is still fun and I had a good but this fair has gotten smaller then the last time I came here. I noticed how they pushed all the rides and food stands together making it harder for you to walk around im glad I decided to come on Sunday instead of Saturday to afford the crowd. I ended up getting the fried Oreos which were really good I friend of mine recommend them and im glad I got them don't get me wrong I had fun and I always feel like a kid again when I get to go to the fair but I just wish they left things the way it was read more

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It's like reverting back to being a kid again that is filled with excitement every time you head to the fair. I was a little worry of how the weather would played out since Sunday was the only day I have a chance to come out here. Luckily, the weather played out to my liking since it was a nice day out. The fair don't seem as spread out like I remember and for a second there, I thought it wouldn't be as much rides out here, but they still have a lot of rides for everyone to choose from. Coming on a Sunday afternoon played out to our advantage since there wasn't hardly anyone here, but as the day progress, it started getting more crowded with customers. If you never had fried Oreos before, I would definitely recommend getting them especially if you're at the fair. The general admission just cover the entrance and shows, but if you want to get on any rides, I would suggest just getting the wrist band, but if you're not planning on riding much, they have individual tickets you can purchase at a cheaper price. The negative thing is that it cost $30 dollars for wrist band during the weekend, but if you were to come on a weekday, it's only $25 dollars. The other issues is that the rides that's listed on the website wasn't at the fair and I think they should just put the ones that's going to be there. But, at the end of the day, I still had a good time out here. read more

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I will concede the fair isn't what it used to be. I will also agree that it's very expensive. However, the joy this fair has brought my children is worth every penny! Unfortunately today my son was sick and couldn't go. He loves the fair and always has. He passed on going and just walking around with my daughter and me. I braved taking a drama filled, often stubborn 3 yr old girl solo. This was my daughter's first fair experience. She was so excited about going I couldn't not take her. Admission $10 adults $5 for kids 4 and under free Arm bands for the rides $25 each. She's roughly 38 inches tall so I had to ride a number of rides with her and so there went $50.00. You have to buy some fair food. Snow cone, popcorn, pretzel, fried macaroni and cheese bites and some awesome Gordo's tacos. I found Gordo's at the fair several years ago and their food is awesome and the prices are reasonable. I got out cheaper this year vs years past bc I didn't have my son and one or 2 of his friends. Plus we didn't go down the whole carnival games path this time. She saw some cool stuffed animals but was way more into the rides and the side shows vs the games. Gordos offers $3.00 tacos and $2.00 bottled water. The quality is superior to anything served at the fair and the prices are the absolute most reasonable. Be aware the habanero salsa on he salsa bar forced me to buy a second water. It was far hotter than the varieties generally found on salsa bars and it's not for the faint of heart! In addition to salsa they had onion, fresh cilantro, limes, 5 or 6 types of salsa, some peppers and some avocado sauce. The rides: there were several rides, fun houses and activities for her age. A couple roller coasters, several spinning rides such as cars and lady bugs, a carousel, a giant ferris wheel etc.. They did not have as many of the awesome scary looking daredevil rides this time that my son loves but it was perfect for my daughters age. There was a petting zoo with a large variety of animals- included with the price of admission. They had live music. Tonight the Bellamy Brothers. The real attraction to me was the old school traveling road show. They had a hula hooper, a strong woman - yes woman, a juggler/ knife thrower a sword swallower, some freak out magic tricks and a real deal fire eater. It was awesome. It was a group of younger people performing. It reminded me of what you see in older movies with the traveling circus. It was great. My daughter absolutely loved the fire eater of all things. It amazed her. She did not want to leave. For me, I agree the cost is significant but well worth it for my kids. We definitely got our money's worth out of the arm bands. Very highly recommend for younger children. The older ones may not like it as much this year. The adults with no kids also may not be happy with the lack of the Mach V - 70 ft high in the air sling shot spinning rides. It's geared more toward children on this tour. read more

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Dont waste your money. Poor selection of rides. Food stands out of most items. Rude ride operators.

https://www.facebook.com/peyton.hill/videos/10216367824283874/?t=3 Warning: this post may be upsetting to animal lovers. last night Carter Johnstone and my sister and her boyfriend went to the state fair at Oak Mountain Amphitheater. It was all around an awful experience. We bought ride passes for $25 each and ended up waiting 2 hours and 45 minutes to ride ONE ride and then the park closed. And my sister waited in line for a drink for 1 hour and 20 minutes. (Yes we sound dumb for even waiting but hey, we had nothing better to do and had already paid) But that's not the worst part. There was a petting zoo at the fair. We briefly visited the animals when we first arrived at the fair. It was sad because the animals had been being pet and visited by families since the fair opened 8 hours ago. They had no food OR water either. The animals were dirty and the poor baby kangaroo paced back and forth in the back corner of his small cage the whole time trying to get out.. I noticed in one of the first pins, a small black goat laying his head in his food bowl. Not moving. I figured he was exhausted from the weekend of constant interaction and moved on. Hoping he was just resting. We left the petting zoo to go stand in line for that ONE ride. Then, on our way out of the fair, decided to go check on the animals one more time before we left. We returned to the petting zoo, 4 hours later, and I immediately noticed that the same small black goat had not moved since the last time. I told carter, "that goat is dead, I feel sick, please do something". Carter tried to reassure me that the goat was just sleeping and was tired (because he knew how upset I was about to be). Carter touched the goat and lifted his head a little to find that he was limp. Then the miniature donkey in the same pin stepped on the little goat and he still did not move.. with tears in my eyes I told the man running the petting zoo "your goat over there is dead". With a weird half smile, that made my stomach churn, he said "which goat?" (I got the impression that this is a common occurrence and he was not bothered by it at all). I started to get too upset and had to leave. But not before I saw the man go over the goat (right in front of children and families) and pick up his head, shake it a little, and then roughly drop it back down in the food bowl. At that point I lost it. I started bawling crying and left the fair immediately. Carter and I reported it to the Pelham police officer outside of the fair and he said he would check inside and see what was going on. That is the only thing we knew to do. The whole thing was just so upsetting to me and I will never go back to another place like that. I do not recommend anyone going to the state fair and supporting that kind of business. I'm sharing this video to show you all how sad the animals looked. The goat in the beginning of the video is the deceased goat that had been laying there for at least 4 hours with no one noticing. Then I scan the tent and you can see how exhausted all the animals are. The last bit of the video you see the baby kangaroo who is fidgeting in his cage, alone. Some of you may think this is dramatic of me to post this but it truly disturbed me and I don't want this to continue to be a supported business. If anyone knows where else I can report this, let me know. Also, please feel free to share this post. read more