There is no way around it. A visit to the Monroe County Fair is going to cost money.

I won’t be at the fairgrounds until Wednesday, so I don’t have any advance intelligence for you as far as ride prices and actual prices for snacks and refreshments.

What I do have available as reference material is The Monroe Evening News special section that ran last week, the monroenews.com fair page, this year’s fair flier and the blog archives from previous fairs.

Here are my fair on a budget tips, updated for this year:

• If your family is new to frugal living or has been dealing with unemployment this year, have discussions about how cutting back on other expenses will allow you to continue your family fair outing tradition. You want to cultivate a grateful attitude at home about things like this.
• Look back at how much you actually spent in previous years to get in the gate, buy some food, attend an event or enjoy the attractions. You might be able to cut 10 to 20 percent off that cost with just a little bit of planning; and a lot more off that cost if you are willing to be selective about your spending priorities on the fairgrounds.
• Pick the day to attend the fair when you can accomplish almost everything you want to do. Is your intention to hang out with friends on Friday night? Do you have a friend or relative in 4-H and want to cheer on their competition? That’s the one day you go.
• You can probably save the cost of admission for at least one person if you pay attention to the daily specials: Admission is free for veterans on Monday, for kids ages 16 and younger on Tuesday, and for seniors age 65 and older on Wednesday. There will also be discounted admission for women of $2 until 1 p.m. Thursday in honor of Ladies Day. Another tip: if someone in the family has a vendor pass to work at a booth, the rest of the family can meet him or her at the fair before or after the shift.
• Park in the free parking lots. It’s not any more of a walk from the free parking spots than in the paid parking spots on Raisinville and N. Custer Rds. Spend that $5 or so on something else, like buying midway food.
• Bring enough money for each member of the family to pick one food item from the midway. You can share a bucket of fries or bag of cotton candy if you like. But everyone in the family should be able to pick out one favorite fair food. Is there any other time of year that you eat that stuff?
• Bring your own bottled water. Would you rather spend your fair food money on bottled water, or on a waffle cone? I vote for waffle cone.
• If you or the children will want to check out the amusement rides, consider going Sunday or Wednesday when rides will be $1 each all day. There are other days where you can “pay one price” for $20 for ride-all-day, and the teens might happily chip in their own money for that deal. But those unlimited ride passes will get expensive really quick for a family on a budget.
• Spend time visiting the business and vendor booths, asking questions about their products and services. When you’re a family on a budget, you want to spend money wisely. Think beyond the freebies and swag, and consider this an opportunity to do consumer research for shopping decisions later in the year.

Update: This post is featured on the front page of Tuesday Aug. 4 edition of The Monroe Evening News. If you’re new to Monroe on a Budget, take a look around! I help local families with tips on how to save money on everyday expenses and once-in-awhile expenses such as the county fair. I’ll be staffing the Evening News booth at the fair from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 5 if you want to say hi.