If you're heading up to the Illinois State Fair between now and next Sunday and need some help trying to figure out what to do, here are my tips.

Best places to eat:

- Vose's Corn Dogs, located across from the grandstands by the FFA Petting Zoo, look for the red stand, has the best corn dogs on the fairgrounds.

- Commodity Building, located across the grandstands by the Avenue of Flags, look for the big open building, different commodity groups serve various foods from pork chop dinners to ribeye sandwiches to ice cream to gyros, great for the family, lots of seating available.

- Prairie Farms Stand, located on Central Avenue by the cattle and horse barns, sells ice cream sandwiches, ice cream bars and white or chocolate milk, all for 75 cents or less, a great cheap treat for the kids.

- Ethnic Village, located near the main gate by Sangamon Avenue, features stands with foods from various countries, a great place for indecisive eaters who want to try different foods.

- Food-A-Rama, located in the center of the fairgrounds between Central and Illinois Avenues, choose from about eight different stands with many picnic tables for families to gather.

What to do:

- Visit Conservation World, located on 6th street near Gate 7 across from the goat barn, features a ton of hands on activities for kids, a lumberjack show, and lots of fish, wildlife and trees for kids to look at and learn about, one of my favorite places on the fairgrounds as a kid, plus its free.

- Milk-A-Cow Booth, located in the last brick cattle barn (25Q) on Central Avenue toward the Livestock Center, Illini Dairy Club members teach kids how to milk a cow and give them a chance to squirt it themselves, cost is about $1, kids receive a "I Milked A Cow at the Illinois State Fair" button and a coupon for a carton of milk.

- Butter Cow, located in the Dairy Building on Central Avenue toward the east end of the fairgrounds, check out a cow sculpture made of butter, each year the artist makes something different, the dairy building also offers games for kids, Got Milk? products and dairy treats.

- High Dive Show, located behind the Food-A-Rama on Central Avenue, features people diving from really high up into a big pool of water, its something fun to see that kids don't get to see at too many places.

- If you get HOT, a few places on the grounds are air-conditioned. They include the Livestock Center, Dairy Building and Extension Building.

This is stuff I've figured out from my yearly trips the the state fair. I love the fair and hope you enjoy it as well.