Get ready for a weekend of fun at Sparkleberry Country Fair

Some fairs blow up a bounce house and call it having rides. Not the organizers of the Sparkleberry Country Fair. When the midway opens at 4 p.m. Friday it will be filled with a variety of cool rides offering a variety of adrenaline and excitement levels.

The fun continues Saturday, when the full fair opens at 9 a.m. In addition to the amusement rides (which stay open until 10 p.m.), you can get your thrills without ever leaving the ground, thanks to a trio of simulators that will let you try your hand at racing a car, flying a plane or harvesting grain atop a giant combine.

Richland County Master Gardeners will be on hand to offer plant advice to non-masters, who can also purchase plants, garden tools, ceramic pots and other garden supplies.

There will also be opportunities to try out various shooting sports with 4-H; check out 150 antique tractors, 100 classic cars, model trains and railroads; explore exhibits of Native American culture and, in the Little Red Barn see what it takes to make a horse shoe and shear a sheep.

Scheduled events include a live drop of professional parachutists with the Special Forces Association Parachute Team, falconry, robotics demonstrations, a cow milking competition with local tv personalities and two stages filled with entertainment ranging from music and dance to tae kwon do.

So that you don’t have to wait for the State Fair, there will, of course, be a full range of fair food, supplemented by pork skins, fried alligator bites and fried cheesecake.

Tickets are $20 on Friday and Sunday, when only the rides are open; $25 on Saturday.

Parking is $5 per car. For more information, including event schedules, visit www.sparkleberrycountryfair.org

Katie McElveen, Special to The State

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Get ready for a weekend of fun at Sparkleberry Country Fair."