A Visit to the C.N.E.

Our Evil Minion prize.

For the first time in years I went to the C.N.E. My friend, Peter, asked a few of us to go along with him.

It opened Friday, August 21st. Since I have Fridays off I decided to go earlier and meet them there.

I have to say, I didn't go as early as I thought I might. I arrived around 5:00 in the afternoon.

Admission was $8.00. It was an opening day special. Normally general admission is a steep $18.00. Though, if you go after 5:00 p.m. from Monday-Thursday you can get in for $6.00.

I took the T.T.C. down. From my place I headed south on the subway to Union Station and caught the 509 Streetcar the rest of the way. Normally they'd drop you off right at Strachan Avenue, but, this year, for some reason, they dropped people off the stop before (or right in the grounds).

Since I wanted to enter at the Princes' Gates (to take pictures there), I got off at the stop before and walked the extra five minutes.

The last time I went to the C.N.E. may have been when I was in my early teens. I don't believe the Direct Energy Centre was there when I last went to the C.N.E. And the Automotive Building was open to the public (now it isn't).

I remember arcades with video games and a lot of free samples at the Food Building back then. As well they had the Canada Fitness Test where you could earn Bronze, Silver, Gold or the much coveted Award of Excellence badges by participating in a number of physical activity tests. I believe the best I ever did was the Gold.

Now it seems so clean and polished. The rides look safe. What's the fun in that? Of course I did go on opening day, so, perhaps, after a week or so the grime will set in.

They still have the Polar Express and Zipper rides. And the hawkers who try to get you to spend your money on next to impossible games trying to win ginormous stuffed animals that you end up donating to Goodwill after they sit in plastic bags in your basement for 15-years.

This time I went to document the carnage. Just to take pictures of the experience, so, in 20-years, when I next go again, I can look back and visually see what things used to be like instead of trying to conjure up images in my now foggy memory.

After 2-hours of walking around my friends called saying they'd arrived. I walked back to near the entrance to meet them. It was now around 7:00 p.m. and the sky was starting to darken. I was lucky to get some photos earlier.

We walked through the Midway again. But at a faster pace. I had already taken my daytime shots so I was okay. Peter got his camera out and took some photos of his own. Janice and Heidi had no interest in shooting anything. No problem.

After going through the Midway we hit the Food Building. Coming straight from work they were pretty hungry.

The Food Building was packed. I guess a lot of other people had the same idea (of getting a bite to eat). We walked around taking a look at all the different offerings.

I joined Peter at the Bacon Nation booth while the girls went off to grab something different. We'd meet after to share the spoils.

At the Bacon Nation booth we ordered a Pig Mac - a hamburger topped with strips of maple bacon. cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and BBQ sauce on a bacon studded bung - $9.75; and the Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese - a grilled cheese sandwich with cheddar and mozzarella cheese wrapped with a weave of maple bacon - $10.50 (or so).

The girls came back with a pulled pork sandwich and fries topped with pulled pork. Mmm... grease, grease and more delicious grease.

We were pretty full after that, but still weren't done with food. Heidi wanted to try the Chicken Waffle on a Stick - which is a piece of chicken wrapped with a waffle on a stick - $8 at Mr. Mike. It was all right. Chicken was a little dry.

Janice had to leave early. Before she went she convinced us to play a game. We looked for something that didn't cost too much and that wasn't impossible to win.

We found the Kentucky Derby game at 3 bucks a pop it wasn't too hard to master. All you had to do was roll a golf ball into certain holes to move your horsey along a track. First horse to the end wins a small stuffed superhero. Win twice and you could trade your superheroes up to a Minion.

The guy who ran the game said all we needed was two players. So, instead of all of us playing at the same time and coming out with one small prize, we split into two groups of two.

Peter played Janice first and won a small "Batman". Heidi and I played next and she beat me. We traded in the two small prizes for a larger evil Minion with shaggy purple hair.

Janice had to go after that. Peter and I walked around the Midway taking night pictures while Heidi waited for us. She must have been a little bored. We stayed 1-1/2 hours longer before ending her torture.