The 2023 Heart of Illinois Fair started yesterday and will run through this coming Saturday.
On Monday, they had a pre-fair party for the press and staffers for the fair and I was there! And of course I was armed with my trusty MBIP Camera, so here’s some photos from those pre-fair festivities!
Here we are at Expo Gardens. The sign in the front is fairly (no pun intended) new and the one over the drive has reached iconic sign status by now! Let’s go in and see what’s happening!
There’s my favorite place at the Heart of Illinois Fair, the Beer Garden!
There’s a stage opposite it for the live music and entertainment that will be happening for the rest of the week.
Welcome to the 2023 Heart of Illinois Fair!
As soon as I stepped into the Beer Garden I ran into Roxy Baker who’s the HOI Fair President and one of the Directors and she said this year’s fair is going great and they have some exciting talent and fun events planned for the five day fair.
I also ran into one of the Miss Heart of Illinois pageant winners! She said she was thrilled to have won and was excited about this year’s Heart of Illinois Fair!
There’s the beer truck in the back of the Beer Garden and the spread for tonight’s dinner.
Lot’s of smiling and friendly faces out here at the pre-party at Expo Gardens for the 2023 Heart of Illinois Fair!
Roxy gave a nice talk about the fair and various past and present highlights. She also thanked everyone who works tirelessly to put this on every year and then…
It was time for the complimentary dinner!
The food was prepared and supplied by The Cookery and it was very tasty and delicious!
They were setting things up on the Midway area and here’s two staples of the Heart of Illinois Fair: The Jumbo Corn Dog and Funnel Cakes stands!
i got some shots of them setting up the Midway rides. They were hard at work as they had to be up and running the next day.
I’ll be back Saturday and you can see my full report on the 2023 Heart of Illinois Fair next Monday right here on MBIP!
All the Directors, the three Miss Heart of Illinois winners and staffers gathered for a group photo and I wasn’t the only one taking a picture of this group.
Thanks to all of them for making this year’s Heart of Illinois Fair happen!
The Heart of Illinois Fair runs through this Saturday and the fair hours are 4-10 pm weekdays and noon to 11pm on Saturday.
There’s food including corn dogs, cinnamon rolls, funnel cakes, Italian sausage, grilled favorites, cotton candy and fresh lemonade.
Live music includes Still Shine Band on Thursday, Broken Mojo Band On Friday and Hindsight Band on Saturday. Live music starts at 8pm.
There’s also live magic shows, a pie eating contest on Saturday, dog shows, a petting zoo, Midway carnival rides and games and much more fun and entertaining things to do at this year’s Heart of Illinois Fair!
Stop out and support this fun and entertaining Peoria summer tradition at Expo Gardens!
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Expo Gardens
1602 W. Northmoor Road
Peoria
309-691-6332
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Related Posts: Saturday Night @: The Heart Of Illinois Fair and Live, From Peoria, It’s Saturday Night!