Colorado State Fair 2022 - Pueblo, CO
Aug 26-28, 2022
Written By: H.Couch
The trailers hitched on a Friday afternoon and what should have been a 2-hour drive turned into a 3 hour drive due to traffic and rain, as we head south to Lake Pueblo State Park. We were camping at Yucca Flats Campground. This weekend’s plans in Pueblo included sightseeing downtown Pueblo and the Colorado State Fair. Thankfully on the days we don’t leave until the afternoon, dinner has become something quick like, leftovers. It was still kind of raining here and there but not bad as the clouds were beginning to break up as the sun was setting. Luckily, we were able to quickly set up camp and not get soaking wet in the process. Because my eyes had been burning all day, it was a short night around camp. No campfire or sitting out looking at the lake and scenery. I just wanted to lay down, relax and watch some Netflix.
Throughout the night, it rained off and on. At some point, it woke me up because it was coming down so hard. Thankfully we woke up to a clear sunny morning as we sat outside with our morning coffee. Jon wanted to make a breakfast scramble using tofu and Just Egg with a plant-based sausage which turned out pretty good.
After a good breakfast, it was time to make our way for the day. First stop on our Pueblo adventure was downtown. When we arrived into downtown it was a fun surprise to see we had wandered into a parade. It appeared that we were catching the tail end of the parade but had a fun time seeing a bunch of high school marching bands and team prep rallies. We watched for a bit then walked down Union Ave. looking at a few of the antique shops and walked along the Riverwalk that they created in their downtown area. You can catch a river boat tour around the canal and back but we did not do that this time. Maybe next time we are in the area.
Now that the downtown festivities had ended it was time to make our way to the Colorado State Fair, and find some goats! There were a lot of people and it was very HOT! We made a loop around the fairgrounds looking at the cows, sheep and horses that were all getting groomed for their shows. Of course, we passed on all the fair foods and rides (fried everything and rides I will not enjoy). We had evening plans at the Fair but also wanted to come during the day to check things out for a little bit. We then headed back to camp to cool down from the heat and have some dinner.
We got back to the fairgrounds and found a parking spot that only cost $10. We wandered around a little bit, but mainly headed to the stadium to find a seat. That was quite a feat in itself. There were so many people and most if not all of the seats had already been taken. After a few frustrating minutes and wishing that we were a little earlier, we found a couple seats. The rodeo started off with bucking broncos and then followed up with calf roping, barrel racing, and of course bull riding. But probably to most entertaining part was an unplanned moment when the rodeo clowns were going to give away a $500 gift card to a furniture store. They had about 30 moms come down to the dirt rodeo grounds, they had to remove a shoe and put it in a pile. The rodeo clown then lined them up in the middle and had them race to the fence in the dirt with one shoe on, run back to the pile of shoes, find their correct shoe, put it on, then high five the rodeo clown standing back where they all started. It all seemed so simple until the rodeo clown started running around in circles with 30 moms chasing him down. It wasn’t that easy, but it was hilarious watching a lady tackle the clown to win.
The rodeo was followed by a concert, Walker Hayes (he plays the Applebee’s song). It was pretty good but most of the songs we had not heard. It was a good concert and we enjoyed seeing him play. We made it back to camp around midnight which is pretty late for us but we had a great time and enjoyed the Colorado State Fair.
Sunday morning coffee and clean up then time to head back to life for a few days until we drive off to our big Colorado road trip adventure. Gunnison National Park. Look for it to post soon.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
