“This was a lot busier than last year,” he said. “But there wasn’t any crime or fighting either.”

He is happy to see the last day come, but not looking forward to tearing down the rides.

A visiting Canadian boy came off the Zipper with a smile on his face. His aunt, Heidi Thoden of Tahlequah, said McCallum Ching and his sister are visiting her for a few days.

“I love the Zipper,” Ching said. “Because you go everywhere and flip backwards and forwards.”

He said he’s seen much smaller fairs than this back home and thought Muskogee’s was great.

Late in the afternoon, groups of young people with big belt buckles and cowboy hats showed up for the rides before “The Rides”- bull riding.

The petting zoo seethed with children spilling grain and parents snapping pictures. A feisty goat tried to pull a man’s car keys out of his back pocket while another butted the fence.

Other families lined up for corndogs and funnel cakes or waited to ride the Ferris wheel.

Lacy Parks took advantage of some of the games that included balloon popping, duck hunting, the ring toss, and fishing. Among the prizes available were everything from tiny Christmas stockings to gigantic stuffed animals. Parks said they won their prizes, including inflatable hammers and stuffed Chihuahuas, at the basketball throw and fishing games. However, she wasn’t riding the Ferris wheel with her two children, 9 and 4.

“I brought reinforcement,” she said. “Their godmother is riding with them.”

This is the family’s second year attending the fair in Muskogee.

“We’ve had a great time,” Parks said. “The stuff is little enough that the kids can ride it all.”