LYNDEN - High-pitch screams floated on the warm summer breeze as kids flipped, twirled, spun and dropped their way through the busy carnival during the Northwest Washington Fair Wednesday, Aug. 17.
The carnival was packed with families and kids, lines snaking around in the sun for rides like the Zipper, the Ring of Fire and the Galaxy 3000.
For Emily Ceranova and Erica Sluys, both 11 and from Bellingham, the fair is a tradition that can't be missed, especially all the rides.
"I love it. I've been going here ever since I can remember," Emily said. "We wouldn't miss it for the world. One year I went every single day. It's addicting."
Both girls love the Super Shot, which is a 100-foot drop tower that is new to the fair this year. Riders get strapped in and slowly rise into the air, getting a spectacular view of the fairgrounds and beyond. Then suddenly, they plummet - bodies floating off their seats, stomachs lifted into their throats - before the ride slows to touch down. It's a popular one, both for riders and spectators who watch the rapid, scream-filled fall from the fairway.
"As soon as you stopped, you just fell, and you never thought you were going to stop falling," said Emily Jackson, 14, who was visiting from Stanwood. "It was scary."
That aspect of the unknown was what Britney Passe, 14, loved the most.
"I'm still shaking," the Sumas teen said, lifting a quivering hand. "I want to go on it again."
Lynden mom Lisa Den Bleyker lives just a couple blocks away from the Northwest Washington Fair and Event Center, and she and her family get to watch as the fair comes together. Though she stays on the ground as her kids go on rides, she loves coming to the fair every year and the kids do, too.
"They're going to try to hit up all the rides, as many as they can," she said. "They get pretty excited."
Merilou Anderson soaked up the sun on a bench as her grandchildren scrambled to get on every ride they could.
"I had to bring two of them so they could ride the rides together because I don't want to get near them anymore," she joked.
She prefers to sample the fair's food instead. When she and the grandkids arrived at the fairgrounds, the first thing they did was get a burger and curly fries before heading off to the rides.
"Now we're headed for something sweet," she said. "That is, if the girls' stomachs can settle."
