Sights & Sounds from the Florida State Fair Watch Party

If Amalie Arena is the award-winning, cinematic cathedral of Lightning hockey, the Watch Party is something like a summer blockbuster. Yes, watching the Bolts take center ice under the spotlights and grand production is always special. But sometimes it's also nice to kick back and watch ThunderBug ride a motorbike through a crowded field of funnel cakes.

This past weekend, the Lightning took to the Florida State Fair to put on a watch party for their matinee matchup with Detroit. These are our sights, sounds and observations from a throwdown that had just about everything except for the Mountain Dew Seal Centaur. The watch party never disappoints.

The first signs I see read “Garlic Bomb” and “El Diablo,” this must be the place

It’s about 30 minutes to puck drop and I’ve found the watch party. So I did what anyone might do upon entering the fairgrounds: I sifted through an inordinate amount of oddball food items, settled on a gator kebab, a cold beverage, and sat down in a porch chair wearing zero sunscreen. Brian Bradley is on stage regaling the crowd with old stories and there is something comforting about hearing Bradley’s voice after meandering through a dizzying mashup of ruckus. I didn’t get the “Garlic Bomb,” but I think we have a new nickname for Anthony Cirelli’s slapshot.

Two quick goals and we’re off

The opening frame got the crowd rolling with six total goals and a 4-2 Lightning lead. Brandon Hagel scored his first of two goals early along with Erik Cernak, Nick Paul and Brayden Point. The vibes are high, made especially apparent by Sunny, the fair's mascot, and one extremely talented unicyclist. This is the look of a man enjoying a white-hot Bolts offensive streak. I didn’t see him get off his unicycle once.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Hollywood Racing Pigs

It didn’t take ThunderBug long to assert himself in the day’s intermission entertainment. I personally had my bets on Bug entering the Motordome and riding the "Wall of Death" like a Place Beyond the Pines deleted scene, but sometimes you just gotta let the pigs rip.

We got camels!

There’s animals all over the place in here—more animals than any Lightning game I’ve been to. Just when you thought you’d seen it all—perpetual unicycles, mascots racing swine—the fair keeps on providing.

A brief ranking of fair foods

5. Soul Food Egg Roll
4. Periogi Sliders
3. Baked Ziti on a Stick
2. Gator Kabob
1. Turkey Leg

As an old Florida soul, I'm happy to say the humble turkey leg still has its fastball.

I do not, however, recommend having a humble turkey leg before getting on the Ballistic Swing.

The Lightning probably look incredible from up there.

Bolts win their third straight game to climb to third place in the division

After a tough January schedule, the Bolts are playing one of their best stretches of hockey of the season heading into the 4 Nations break. It was time to go home happy. But not before celebrating with a pair of hand-dyed Alaskan overalls.

And okay, maybe one Garlic Bomb.

Photos courtesy of Sami Reilly and Thompson Brandes of the Tampa Bay Lightning.