I love that they have this fair, but I've been two years in a row and it's an okay fair. They have the carnival rides and you can pay a la carte or buy a bunch of tickets to spread around amongst the rides. Lots of booths from both vendors selling tchotchkes and insurance companies wanting your business. The disappointing thing is the food. They have lots of options, but for the life of me I'm never thrilled by what I end up getting. Last year I had a disappointing bbq oemthing or other fromt he democrat's booth. This year I tried the greek fries from the gyro place which wa just some fries with tzatsiki sauce and cheese on top. It was okay, but not craveable. I also tried the samosas and the chia lemonade from the greek temple. The samosas were kinda forgettable, but I loved the lemonade with chia seed. I'm gonna try that tomorrow since I have both chia seed and Country time. I got to see some music at the bandstand. I listened to Bless the Ashes (how cool is that name?!?) and that was a good show. I got there at 7 and y the time I made my way to the vendor area, some of the booths were closed, so boo. read more

Honestly it saddens me how much this fair has changed. I used to like going to Lakefair but now they've really jacked up their prices. This year pretty much all the rides cost 13 tickets each and the cheapest amount of tickets you can get is 34 for $20. That's like 2 rides for $20 with like a small amount left but what are you gonna do with that? I really wish they would sell all day passes like most fairs do, I don't at all understand why they don't do that. Also food is overpriced but I guess that's typical at any fair the thing that bothers me the most is the ticket system I really wish they would sell all day passes so you can go on as many rides as you want all day. read more

Huge ripoff. My son and I went. I saw the ticket prices for the ride, and for so many tickets. Seemed fair. 1-3 tickets per ride. We go get our barcode for 60+ tickets. Get to the fourth ride, and are told we are out of tickets. How? Well, it just looks like there is dash in the number of tickets you pay. No 12-13 tickets per ride. The UFO my son loves the UFO, but it was off balance, not a smooth ride. Then we tried the pirates cave. Just a pitch black dark ride with pathetic jump scares. That weren't even scary. Also ridiculously hot inside the ride. The bumper cars were good. Had it been 1-3 tickets per ride (child-adult) I would be singing the praises of the event. As it stands I feel cheated, and worse I disappointed my son because we had to leave as I wasn't going to spend more than I had (80 dollars) Four rides, and one game. Not worth it. Disneyland is cheaper and the rides are far better and better maintained. Not that I'm recommending Disney, I'm not, but we could have spent just a little more and rode rides all day. 80 dollars for about half an hour of entertainment is not worth it. I can't speak for the fireworks or concert as we didn't experience those, but even if we had, we wouldn't have had to spend a penny to do so. If you're looking for an affordable day out with your kids the fair is certainly not it, especially now a days. read more

To be honest I thought it would be a good day with my kids but I was humiliated in front of alot of others when asked to get off ride because as he said I was too fat for the ride, but others my size still on with their kids . Never ever have I been so upset.. And TBH Im not even big.. But I just want to say a big thank you for making me feel so much better about how I was feeling anyways . read more

Lakefair! It's what my Olympia friends call the yearly funpocalypse. Meaning you will have fun, darn you! The fair people try hard, they really do- there's a stage with lots of live entertainment, pretty much the same old vendors, food, and charity booths... and same old funtastic game and ridery every year. I recommend all you can ride day. read more

I experienced Lakefair for the first time this year and didn't really get what all the fuss is about. It's basically a carnival on the shores of Capitol Lake with overpriced rides and tasty fair food. The beer tent was fun and had good music, but it was overpriced and nothing to write home about. The main stage seemed to play live music intended for an older crowd. I also was surprised by Lakefair's sparse attendance over the weekend. Even though the rides were supposed to close at midnight, the carnies were turning off the lights and ushering us out at 11pm since there were so few people there! Quite a let-down. I also am compelled to make special mention of the "Grand Parade," which is hands down the worst parade I have ever witnessed. There were FAR too many queen contestants, hardly any interesting floats, and the entire event was poorly planned. At times, there would be more than a block separating individual participants which led to the parade lasting more than 2 hours! We sat in front of the Capitol, and even from that spot the participants lacked energy, the bands never played, and the cheerleaders rarely cheered. No participants tossed candy either, which was a big disappointment; maybe there was a rule against it, and if so, that's equally disappointing. We were so bored after more than 2 hours that we decided to go home, even though the parade was far from over. That's 2 hours of my life that I will never get back. read more

THIS was THE most horrible fair I was ever at. FAR beyond boring. One tent with lousy music, a festival to sell tickets to rides. Lousy food, unfindable porta potties, schlock vendors, BEYOND BORING. Even the police blocked off streets so it was hard to get to AND around. I have never experienced a "fair" or God forbid "festival" like this. Horrible beyond words. read more

Lakefair is put on by people that travel the country, so it's not really an Oly event, although many of the booths are local. The food is mostly greasy and in my opinion not very good. The rides aren't very interesting. The booths are mostly things you really don't need. But it's fun to people watch, at least for awhile. And the culmination fireworks on the last night are fun. I will say that it always amuses me to see the long lines for the demo burger, and nobody at all in line for the republican food booth! read more

Sadly, it has changed much since I went here as a child. But when you were a kid, this was THE summer event. Why? There was a parade on Saturday (kids all love parades, but now I don't care much for them) and they voted on the Lakefair Queen (local high schools nominate a girl who has community involvement and is a scholar--I forget what else). It's for a scholarship, created by local businesses. It was definitely a 'my high school is better than yours' moment. Sunday was the closing fireworks show. Food booths! I don't know about you, but I love elephant ears. Fried dough, piping hot and bubbly..with a pat of butter in the center and a generous dose of sugar/cinnamon. MMmmmm. This was the only time I would get to eat cotton candy too. The blue flavor clearly is the best. My mom would volunteer at a food booth so I got food free, but there's lots to choose from (burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, more burgers, Asian food). Of course there are rides! The good ole Zipper, Music Express, and the Gravitron. I get dizzy in my old age, so I no longer ride, but they still bring a smile to my face when I see them. Best story? I once convinced the ride operator to let us go twice as long on the Zipper. Ha! I went back and the grounds were more scattered. The booths were more businesses, like that dang Penguin windows (I don't have a house, so I don't want your windows), and the like. Attendance was low, even though it was a nice summer day. Sad! I don't know if I'll ever go back, I prefer my memories. read more

So disappointed! We recently moved to the area and I was looking forward to this fair for months! All the rides, most of the concession stands and the games all looked run down. Worse of all everything was way overpriced! $5 for one ride! $4 for one game! $7 for an elephant ear I was shocked! My family will never go back. read more

What a joke this fair is. Pay tons of money for an all day pass to only get denied rides because me and my husbands stamp wore off and my sons bracelet broke. Went to "customer service" in some crappy trailer to show proof of purchase and told them what happened and the "manager" or head honcho dude with a phony mustache and bifocals on gave my husband a lot of crap about it, obviously our wrist bands matched up and obviously we have proof of purchase. My husband told him "so we just spent a lot of money to buy these all day passes and we don't get a new bracelet because our stamp wore off??" His response?? "Ya, that's exactly right" thanks ASSHOLE! He was super rude for no reason, because I wasn't even rude until we got that response. Get off your high and mighty horse dude and don't work at the fair if your going to be super Dick over here...This was my sons birthday. read more

We were visiting some friends and it happened to coincide with Lakefair. They tell us that it is the only time that Olympia has anything going on aside from Artwalk. Since we are out-of-towners, we weren't sure where the best spots were to park or what was going on when. We found parking relatively close to the central location when we realized there was a parade going on. Pretty cool. Lakefair is a small fair compared to what I have been to and am used to. What I liked about Lakefair was how chill it was. We can't even bring our dogs to our fairs. Too many people and other reasons. I get it. We saw people with their furry friends and it made me miss my dogs. They would have loved it. The entire day was just nice. Sunny. Blue skies. A fair. The smell of fair food and elephant ears with a lake as the backdrop and the Capitol looming overhead. It is picturesque. I liked that the stage was open to everyone instead of being separated from all the other activities going on. You can ride on the ferris wheel and watch the Jimi Hendrix look-a-like rock out on his guitar solos. It was awesome. We didn't do the rides. We didn't buy fair food or play any games. We browsed the wares and walked around. For us, it was just enjoying the day in a city we're not familiar with and having a good time with everyone else. Sure everything is overpriced but you come for the experience and the memories. It is what makes us want to come back next year. read more

I didn't record my entire experience of Lakefair last year. It is very difficult to give an accurate average when I failed to do that. Let's recap! Capital Lakefair is a 7 day festival. Lakefair features rides, crafts, food booths, princesses, a parade and fireworks. There are usually different things to do on each day. Wednesday opened with food booths and rides. Those are pretty one-star in my opinion. My kid loved the rides. For that I will give 2 stars. Thursday was really cool because the navy ship Old Man IV let visitors poke around on it all day. That was definitely 3 stars. There was quite a bit I enjoyed on Friday. This included the 50's Plus event for seniors (4 stars), The Lakefair Car Show (3 stars), and the Olympia Arts League Juried Show where a friend had a painting (3 stars). One of my favorite events was on Saturday. The Kit Car Races are one of my favorite parts of Lakefair. It's so fun to watch the kids hurl down in homemade wooden cars. Most of my younger relatives have participated in this event. (4 stars) A separate Kid's Day event was hosted in Sylvester park. My kid had a lot of fun. (3 stars) Saturday evening saw a big end to a fantastic day with the Lakefair Grand Parade. I love parades and this is a fun one! (4 stars) Sunday was mostly rides and food booths. Lakefair had a spectacular end with the Lakefair Grand Fireworks Display. The fireworks would have been truly a 5-star experience if there were fewer drunken-fights and if I didn't have to ask all the heavy smokers (2 groups of 5 or 6) who plopped next to us to stop smoking around my children. It's the nature of being in a crowd and luckily all of the folks were very nice about my request. The Fireworks display was beautiful. Definitely 4 stars. If I had to choose one day to go, I would go on Saturday. I have a younger kid. This day has the most kid-oriented activities other than the rides and food booths. It also has the parade! If this year's Saturday events are like 2012's, it's safe to say Saturday is 4-stars. Lakefair 2013 will be on July 17 - 23 read more

My children and I went to LakeFair last summer, and we had a blast. Parking was the only part that wasn't so great. If you can, it's a better idea to take public transportation to and from the fair. Oh, and there are a lot of unattended teenagers, but they seem mostly well behaved. I thought the prices were reasonable, the staff was nice, and there was a decent selection of rides. The little kid section was great, and there's some fun stuff for big kids and adults too. I highly recommend Zero Gravity! We can't wait for it to return this summer, my kids are really looking forward to it. read more

First off I don't understand why so many people bitch and complain about this event..it brings friends and family together and makes for great memories. Yes the parking kinda sucks but that's about it. The rides are great for kids. The local food vendors are awesome and the fireworks are amazing with the reflections from the lake and the Capitol building in the background are just amazing..everyone is friendly and I always have a great time. My first time was when I was 14 and I remember it like it was yesterday. No matter all the negative reviews I'm certain even those people had some fun. read more

Expensive, dirty, parking is a nightmare. $5 for a kiddie ride. Come on thats ridiculous. Fireworks were good but started 12 min late. Its not that big of deal unless you have tired kids who are waiting. First and last visit to this event. read more

Lakefair added a new event unlimited ride bracelets-this is a bonus for families they can attend any day now not just wristband day -my daughter and her friend loved it -enjoyed the food on water street - read more

I had attended Capital Lake Fair with my children yesterday and had a horrific experience in which I feel should lead to some additional training. In my field, I have seen very unfortunate and tragic accidents and lots of money lost by a negligent business, such as the one I saw yesterday. On the Round Up ride, my 5 children in which I spent $200.00 on bracelets, one of my child's lap belt slowly started to fall off. My child is holding to the bars panicking as we were holding to ourselves also panicking because I am telling the kids running the ride that his safety belt is off and they tell their manager, Francisco Gonzalez who tells them that my child will be fine, without knowledge that we were standing right behind him. I yelled at the kid to stop the ride in where he quickly did and apologized and explained that his manager had told him not to stop it. This was immediately after the ride started, and luckily I was there to protect my child's safety. It was also very unfortunate that he let all the paying guests off the ride and invited new ones in without first calling his supervisor, and without checking why the belt was malfunctioning. I asked for Francisco's supervisor and he called out to him as he laughed. Apparently, my child's safety and the longevity of the company was a joke to him. I complained to the supervisor (who unfortunately remained unnamed) and let him know I will be contacting fantastic and the event coordinators on the unprofessionalism of your staff as well as the danger posed to our residents here in Olympia. I paid a lot of money at your carnival to be treated with such disrespect and disregard for my child's safety. I will await a response with explanation of the measures of how they will be taking to ensure something like this does not happen again. I will keep this updated. read more

i think of lakefair as the antithesis of local flavor. part of me yearns to make out at the top of the ferris wheel, but mostly i'm grumpy and overwhelmed by the hoards of drunks, teenagers and drunk teenagers. read more