Sarasota County Fairgrounds

[KevGA]

Well, a bit of a disapointment but still a day out swinging nevertheless. The fair ended yesterday and I had hoped to actually get into the fairgrounds but they had not completed the break down so I had to content myself with the grass parking lot where the carnies park. Holy crap was there a lot of underground garbage! I think there was only two spots that I wasn't getting hits. The frustrating thing is that I was getting solid dime hits that were ending up as 6" + deep old beer cans. My heart start for today was a new tone that I had only heard once before, a real low "dong". Very solid and bell-like reading below the foil line. Ended up being two bottle caps that had obviously been down for a while. In all two hours of hunting netted a pouch full of garbage, .63 cents in clad (2Q, 1D, 3P), a new looking galvenized nail at about 5" and more experience digging and replacing plugs. I was very happy with the pinpointing today; I found three of the coins in the flip top to my plug, so if anything else I am gaining valuable experience. I will be returning later in the week when I can get onto the actual grounds; the thought of all that clad and jewlery falling out of upside down pockets is just too enticing!

Omni and I are hitting Anna Maria Island tomorrow morning; should be something good as all the snowbirds are getting ready to roll back north and the local colleges are all on spring break last week and this week. Will post an update tomorrow evening.

HH

 

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[Floater]

Hey that is good expeirence Kevin. The carnies are a wiley bunch though. If you watched the hammer or whatever the new rides are and you can hear the coins drop. The secret is that the carnies have a plastic sheet down covered with the hay or grass and then they collect all that change. Now i'm not trying to discourage you but the good thing about this is that the coins you do find should be older and a lot deeper. I'm sure you will still find some good stuff like the rings and such. Another thing too,
I used to live over in Sarasota. Is the fair out by the racetrack off desoto or is it north off 41 by bradenton line and the old airport. I used to live across the street from the Ringling Museum and on the back side of the art school right off 41. Anyway good luck and keep us posted.

 

[KevGA]

Floater,

I figured they would have something going on to get their cut, but hopefully they have holes in their pockets, too!

The fairgrounds are on Fruitville right behind the Robards Arena near Tuttle and Lockwood Ridge. Wednesday is supposed to be nice again, so providing I'm not to sun burned and wiped out from the beach hunt tomorrow I'll probably give it another go then.

Hope to see you back again sometime.

 

[KevGA]

I researched the county and city ordinances before I went down and found nothing specific to metal detecting, so I took a leap of faith and gave it a try. I was approached by a member of the grounds crew about 15 mins into my hunt and when asked he did not see any problem with me being there. He took a few minute break from his work, watched me dig and refill then left me alone for the rest of the afternoon. This again was only in an outer grass parking lot, I will be curious to see if the results are the same inside the gates.

The SCF has a website with contact info, I may go ahead and give them a ring so as to avoid any possibility of problems. If your fair does not have a web site, check the phone book or with the local newspaper. They have to have contact info somewhere, otherwise all the vendors and such wouldn't be able to get spots during events.