Published: August 16, 1998
* Most state fairs don't offer actual freak
shows anymore, but strange things still
happen.
* The New York State Fair (starts Aug. 27)
features Brian J. Ruth, ''Master of the
Chain Saw,'' a chain-saw sculptor who, as
a stunt, once trimmed his fingernails with
a Poulan Handyman Plus ES-300. * The Iowa
State Fair offers Norma Duffield (Duffy)
Lyon, a butter sculptor who in 1994 fashioned
a 400-pound, full-body Garth Brooks. * Last
year, the Minnesota State Fair offered 27
different foods-on-a-stick, including ''Walleye
on a Stick.'' * This year, 77 state and
county fairs will hold a National Best Spam
Recipe Contest. Twenty other fairs have
requested to hold to the event. * In 1995,
George Steinbrenner, incoming chairman of
the Florida State Fair, pledged to reduce
admission from $7 to nothing by 1998. Adult
price in 1998: $7.
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