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BATON ROUGE, La. (WGNO) — The Greater Baton Rouge State Fair may have taken some time off due to COVID-19, but this year the event is back and better than ever before. With food, games, and rides, there’s a little something for everyone regardless of age.

Fair chairman, Cliff Barton, says the crowd this year is bigger than expected.

“People are ready to get out and have fun. We’ve seen that from the day we opened,” Barton explained.

To kick off the fun, we challenged Cliff to a game of balloon darts and quickly learned the secret to winning is putting more muscle behind the throw.

“A pretty prize for a pretty girl,” said Barton.

We then caught up with Madison Ziegler, a veteran fair-goer.

“I come back because I enjoy all the rides and I love to see food and all the entertainment,” said Ziegler, a freshman at LSU.

Ziegler gave us some expert advice.

“We go ride rides first — and then we eat food,” Ziegler said.

“We have over forty rides on the midway,” explained Barton “We have rides that will take you to the top and bring you down awfully quick.”

Now, to end our fair experience on a less-scary note, we step in to make a funnel cake and give it the Louisiana treatment: deep-fried, warm dough sprinkled with something sweet and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

Tickets to the state fair are $15. Click here to learn more.