As Mary Cline took in the colors and aromas of produce on Wednesday's opening day of The Big Fresno Fair, she looked back on more than seven decades of fair history.
"I saw the animals and the rides the first year I came. I must have been about 5," said Cline, 77, of Fresno, who also recalled riding a trolley car to the fair. Fresno's trolley cars were abandoned in the late 1930s.
As a young woman, she wore high heels and dresses to the fair because that's the way women dressed decades ago, said Cline, who wore tan pants and a red sweater Wednesday.
The fair has changed since those days, she said -- and it's grown. "There must be more than 10 times more here than I remember."
Wednesday's opening day of the fair was free admission day for seniors, and some of them took the time to reminisce.
The Sweeney Family band -- Slim Sweeney, far left, Nub Sweeney, middle on bass and Jimbo Sweeney, far right with guitar -- plays to the crowds on the first day of The Big Fresno Fair. The Sweeney Family band, scheduled to stroll the fairgrounds for the duration of the fair, plays what it calls Swamp Grass music. "We ain't hillbillies," said Slim. "There ain't no hills in Florida!"
Jim and Kay Suddath have been going to the fair since 1975, when they moved to Fresno. Their favorite activity there is enjoying the food.
The Big Fresno Fair is a tradition for Jim and Kay Suddath, who have been coming since 1975, when they moved to Fresno.
"I'm a longtime 4-H'er, so going to the fair is part of my life -- and it has to be part of his, too," Kay Suddath said.
Jim Suddath chuckled. "She was the superintendent of the Junior Exhibit building for many years," he said. "Now we're old fair folks."
Not surprisingly, the agriculture building is one of the places they like the best. "That's the good thing to see on the first day," Kay Suddath said, because the produce on display is fresh.
The Suddaths also like to watch the horse races, and maybe make a bet now and then. But their favorite fair activity is eating. "I've got to have a frozen banana," Kay Suddath said, and barbecued beef is a must for her husband.
Over the years, they've seen some welcome changes.
"They've added a lot of things for kids," Kay Suddath said, and educational programs like the fair's environmentally friendly Clean and Green theme.
Improved maintenance and security brought Mae Olson of Hanford back to the fair this year. "For years, we didn't come, but it's cleaner and safer now," she said.
Olson and her husband, Donald, like to buy things for their home and yard at the fair. On opening day, they shopped for a bed and a storage shed in the commerce building.
Jan Amaya of Sanger, who hasn't missed the fair in more than three decades, says opening day is the best day.
"I've come on the first day every year for 35 years, to see everything fresh," said Amaya, 61, gazing at the quilts suspended from all four walls of the Home Arts building.
"They used to just have one wall of quilts. Now there are so many. It's the highlight of my day, seeing the quilts," said Amaya, who made a baby quilt for her first-born child many years ago. The fair was a family tradition when Amaya was growing up.
"We lived several blocks from the fair and we came every year. My mother and I would dress alike," she said.
"The highlight was meeting family and friends and seeing what our friends had entered, which was crocheting and embroidery then."
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Day One of the Big Fresno Fair
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