Canadian National Exhibition - August 20th, 2025

On August 20th, my mom and I went to Toronto for our annual visit to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto!

It was a great day to check out some exhibits, ride many rides, and have some food at the CNE as the weather was cooler, with a slight chance of rain, making the crowds rather light! It was a nice change as the last two years were quite hot and crowded when we visited.

Be sure to enjoy my photos of our day at the CNE! 🙂

Our day started off a bit drizzly and a tad foggy! The CN Tower was hiding behind some rolling fog off in the distance.

My first ride of the day was on the Sky Ride. Its a great way to view the Exhibition grounds. This year it is themed to Wednesday Addams, a series offered on Netflix.

As it wasn't 11am, the other rides were testing before opening for the day.

Here's a close up of the Crazy Mouse from the Sky Ride.

Here's another view of the midway from the Sky Ride.

There was a decent collection of rides supplied by North American Midway, with many rides that return year after year.

While the Gondola Wheel hasn't been the largest wheel on the midway for the past two years with the introduction of the Observation Wheel, it did receive a repaint as the supports were previously painted yellow.

The games and food booths on the midway were opening for the day as I got off the Sky Ride.

It was neat to see old photos of the CNE's past printed on canvases to cover up utility boxes on the midway.

At 11am, I got on the Outlaw coaster. It is fun, but was running slower than usual, with the brakes being applied rather heavily. I guess the rain earlier in the morning had a factor in that.

The wind began to pick up, so I got in line for the Swing Tower as it would eventually close due to strong winds later in the day. It is a fun ride as usual.

After a ride on the Swing Tower, I got in line for Crazy Mouse. The car I rode in didn't spin very much.

Up next was a ride on the 130 foot tall Mega Drop, followed by a ride on Orbiter.

North American Midway has moved away from paper all-day ride wrist bands to these small scannable cards attached by a tightened ribbon on a tensioner. The employees would scan the card with their phone when boarding to ride. Also, paper tickets are now more and can be loaded onto cards if you wish to use that option.

Up next was a ride on the classic Polar Express! It's an annual must ride!

Another must ride for me was X-Drive! This ride is now two years old and is still very thrilling and greatly unpredictable with its quick twists and flips!

After being thrown around on X-Drive, I rode Niagara Falls log flume. I always enjoy a ride on it, especially when the line is short!

After a morning of rides, it was time to take things a bit more slowly, by checking out the new display at the Withrow Common Gallery. This year, the gallery proudly displayed 'CNE in Colour: The Joyful Lens of Scooter Korek. Many photos fof the CNE midway from over the years taken by Greg "Scooter" Korek were on display. It was a very nice collection of photos.

After checking out the display at the Withrow Common Gallery, I decided it was time to finally get on the Dragon launched coaster in the Kiddie Midway. It was introduced in 2019, but always had quite a line in the past. It was a 'walk-on' today, so I got on!

While it has a simple oval layout, the tire propelled launch (with four cycles) was quite fun!

For lunch, we went to the Food Building. I had a burrito bowl from the Burrito Co. It was good, but I wish the serving was a bit larger for the price paid!

For dessert, I had some Gold Ribbon Ice Cream (vanilla/chocolate with caramel) from the Baskin Robbins booth. It was good and not too sweet!

After my ice cream, I took a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl. It was fun as usual!

I eventually made my way over to the Euro Slide. For some reason, the mats didn't glide all the way down to the end of the slide. I guess the lanes haven't been greased in a while!

I've always liked the décor of the Haunted Mansion, even though the ride doesn't do much.

Up next was a ride on the Ring of Fire. I was lucky enough to get an end seat!

The Scrambler, owned by Campbell Amusements was on the midway once again. It moves quite fast for an electric powered Scrambler!

Also during my visit, I did the two fun houses on the main midway.

This year I decided to play a couple rounds of skee ball. Even through I didn't win, I came close! At only $2 per play, how could anyone pass it up?

Inside the EnerCare Centre is the 'Legacy of the CNE' display. It mostly focused on various aspects that helped form and shape the CNE over the years.

It's always neat seeing old photos and artifacts from the CNE's past.

The light fixtures within the display had photos from over the decades!

After walking through the EnerCare Centre, I got back on the Sky Ride for my second ride on it of the day.

Here's a look down on the Polar Express.

A boat on Niagara Falls was going down the second drop as I captured this photo.

After a relaxing ride on the Sky Ride, I joined my mom and headed over to the Farm Building to see what was on display. Here's a wonderful sand sculpture being made in the Farm Building.

There were many goats in the Farm Building.

After a walk through the Farm Building, I got on the Sky Ride one last time for the day. The Star Dancer was swinging around in the late-afternoon. I would get a ride on it before heading out.

The Mach 3 stands tall above the midway.

The splashdown on Niagara Falls log flume is quite the visual and not all that soaking, but slightly refreshing.

As I began to feel hungry again, we headed back to the Food Building. This time I went to Smash Burgers.

The burger and curly fries were seasoned very well, making them very delicious!

The midway began to get busier in the early evening.

I decided to have a waffle ice cream sandwich. They're very good and a CNE tradition!

I took another ride on Mega Drop. Despite its size, it is quite thrilling!

I also captured another ride on the Wave Swinger. It too is a staple of the CNE midway.

After getting on another handful of rides, including the X-Drive and Star Dancer, it was time to head out for the day. Here's my mom and I after a nine hour day at the CNE! We had a great day! 🙂

Erin Fall Fall- October 7th, 2016

I had visited the Erin Fall Fair with my brother Scott and our Mom for the first time. Our mom hadn't been in years so, it was really a day of her reliving old memories and creating new ones. Since there wasn't much at the fair when we had visited, the main focus of this report is of the midway which was supplied by Robertson Amusements of Orangeville, Ontario. They had an offer of $25 for unlimited rides on Friday, so how could we pass up such a deal? To my delight, the rides were well maintained and the ride operators were very friendly and kind. Now, let's get on to those photos!

Once the rides opened shortly after 11:30am, we ventured into the Mardi Gras fun house. It's just a basic glass maze with some mirrors at top but, it still is fun!

Here's a view of the Avalanche which became quite popular as the day continued.

Here's the super fast Gondola Wheel. For some strange reason it moved faster than any other gondola wheel I've been on!

Here's one of the many games that was on the midway which is the Whac-A-Mole. 

Here's a photo of the very fun family coaster, the Looney Lagoon! It may appear tame but, once those cars (barrels) begin to spin as the train goes around the track, be sure to hold on for a wild ride! This coaster had more spinning than the Crazy Mouse at The Ex! I was quite impressed with this coaster made by Wisdom Rides!

Here is a view of some of Robertson Amusements' midway from atop the Mardi Gras fun house.

Here's another view of more of the midway with the Gondola Wheel standing tall.

While Scott and I were taking a spin on the Avalanche, our mom decided to capture some photos.

As the Avalanche begins to move fast, the ride operator sounds a horn!

Here is Scott and I just as the ride is coming to a halt.

Here is a photo of the Ali Baba. This ride is quite similar to the Avalanche except it soars high into the sky giving riders quite the view before the swoop towards the ground! 

Here is a closeup shot of the Gondola Wheel.

Here is Robertson Amusements' Guest Services as it stood on the main midway. 

Here is a photo looking towards the back of the midway. 

Here is one of the many games which can be found on the midway at the Erin Fall Fair.

Here are the Skee-ball machines which you don't really see on midways anymore.

Here are some rabbits. The one on the left was cleaning itself like a cat! It kept on cleaning itself while we were in the tent. It was rather hilarious!

Here is a view of the Gondola Wheel looking up while Scott and I were waiting in line for a ride.

Here is a view of the empty midway on the Friday afternoon. I am quite sure that the midway will be packed throughout the rest of the weekend, especially with the nice weather that is in store!

Here is a view of the Gondola Wheel as seen from the vendors' tent area.

If you had forgotten where we were, we're at the Erin Fair!

Here is the Extreme, which is a Tivoli Remix. It's a variant of the Orbiter ride featured at many fairs. This features floor-less cars which restrain riders with a shoulder restraint.

Here is the other coaster on the midway, the Dragon Wagon. It is definitely a coaster that will get the little ones introduced to coasters!

Here is a variant of the Berry-Go-Round, which is known as Tea Time.

Here is possibly the best looking Berry-Go-Round I have seen! The berries were very shiny and well maintained as they were easy to spin! 

Here is the Scooter bumper cars! These ones are by far the best bumper cars I have come across at any fair! The real bump as the cars move fast! Scott and I had taken a couple of rides on them throughout the day.

Here is one last view of the midway just before leaving for the day!

But, just before we left, we decided to take a look at some large vegetables! Here are some long gourds!

Here is the largest pumpkin at the Erin Fall Fair!

Here's the prettiest pumpkin!

Here's a large pumpkin cut open and gutted! 

Here are some large jack-o-lanterns!

Here are some extremely large turnips!

Here are some large Marrow. They look like a large cucumber crossed with a watermelon! ;-)

Here is a large Kohlrabi!

Here's a large Bushel Gourd!

Here's an old stage coach that once traveled between Erin and Guelph with some carved pumpkins in front of it.

Here's a side view of the same stage coach! I hope you enjoyed looking at my photos of my first visit to the Erin Fall Fair! :-)