The gates are open at the CLE and kids of all ages couldn’t be happier.
A healthy crowd of young and old alike poured into the annual fair, the highlight of summer for thousands of thrill-seekers, cotton candy aficionados of lovers of games of chance.
Sarah Sitch, 13, spent Wednesday afternoon at the CLE with a group of friends, food and fun foremost on her mind.
There’s no doubt why she wanted to hit the fair.
“The rides, the cotton candy, the food, all that fun stuff,” she said. “I was on the Rock N Roll, the Starship, the Tornado and a couple other rides.”
Her friend, Ashley Dennhardt, couldn’t agree more.
“I like the rides and that’s mostly the reason I’m here. I look forward to the food, because I love food,” she said.
“I like the ice cream,” she added.
A.J. Goulding said having the CLE arrive in town is a great chance to experience something not readily available in Thunder Bay or Northwestern Ontario.
“I don’t really get to go on many rides usually,” he said.
It’s rather nice having an amusement park, however temporary it may be, in Thunder Bay, A.J. added.
“I like it here. There’s usually never amusement parks in Thunder Bay, so it’s been really fun,” he said.
His buddy, Kelsey Schraml, was having fun, but the Tornado was a bit much for his stomach.
“I puked on myself,” he said, laughing, putting the incident in his past and still having fun with his friends.
“The food and the rides are pretty fun too.”
With up to 60,000 people – or more – expected to visit the CLE before it winds up its annual run on Sunday, there’s plenty other things to do, from Kids World to craft sales, plenty of music and even an escape artist following in the footsteps of Houdini and David Blaine.
Danny Mosa, vice-president of agriculture for the CLE in 2012, said there’s a few hidden gems and encouraged fair-goers to take a peek in all the buildings to see what’s going on, one in particular.
“A lot of people don’t go into the Dove building, where they have a lot of the local crafts and the baking and the agricultural displays. People are judged on their vegetables and their baking and their quilting and stuff like that,” he said.
“That’s a building that seems way off in the corner and people seem to make a right-hand turn or a left-hand turn and they miss it. But that’s a building that’s worthwhile going into.”
Mosa said it’s hard to estimate how many people will attend the CLE, but all signs are pointing to higher-than-usual numbers.
“Right now we anticipate huge crowds due to the fact that our advance ticket sales have been overwhelming. The weather’s going to cooperate this year, I understand, and I expect to see many, many people out here having a fun, family affair,” Maso said.
