Serving up the corndogs: just one of the Hoosier delights awaiting you, Aug. 11-22.

But we go. We go in droves. For over 150 years we have been pulled, as if by invisible cables, to the center of the state, to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the Indiana State Fair.

The Indiana State Fair opens today, Aug. 11, and runs through Aug. 22 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on 1202 E. 38th Street. General admission is $6; ages 5 and under are free. Those wise enough to ride their bikes will receive a dollar off Fair admission, as well as brownie points in bicycle heaven.

A Park & Ride will be located at the Glendale Mall at the corner of Keystone and 62nd as well as the Major Taylor Velodrome on West 38th and Cold Spring Road. For $2 per roundtrip, visitors can ride the buses from noon-11 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. on weekends. Busses will operate every 20 minutes.

Another transportation alternative is the Indiana State Fair Train, at the Fishers Train Station, Municipal Drive and 116th Street. Boarding sites are the station and 39th and Millersville Road. Tickets are $10; $6 for children 3-12 (fair admission is not included). For more info on the State Fair Train call 773-6000 or go to www.itm.org.

For a complete list of all the State Fair activities, call 927-7500 or go to www.indianastatefair.com.

Here are our picks for the ISF:

•It’s the 100th anniversary of Indiana 4-H, and those of you too cool to think 4-H is great and venerable institution probably don’t like corndogs or ferris wheels either. By the time you read this, you’ve likely missed the opening ceremony that honors 4-H, but check out, throughout the fair, the $7.5 million renovation of the 4-H Education Complex.

• Kachunga & The Alligator: Okay, wrastling alligators may not be our cup of tea, but the performance, held three times daily at the Pfizer Fun Park, will surely be an action-packed show. Just think of what the alligator must feel when he … shudder … touches human skin.

• The Purina Incredible Dog Team. If you put the word “Incredible” into your own title, you better deliver. Our guess is they will, with their athletic feats and Frisbee prowess. This year, the dogs are up to something new: dock diving. Canine acrobats forever! Pfizer Fun Park; three times daily.

• Ball State Backyard. New this year, the Department of Landscape Architecture as BSU will feature “a garden exhibit designed to reflect a blend of sports, automobiles and agriculture.” Dude, using recycled materials, to boot. Marsh/AgHort Buildings throughout the fair.

• Hispanic Music Day. We’ll be jamming on Aug. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. on the WFMS Free Stage.

• Writers. Despite what you may believe, we’re writers, so dang it were gonna hawk the writers at the ISF. The Indiana Authors Showcase will be offered throughout the duration in the Exposition Hall. Who’s showing up? James Alexander Thom, Cathy Day, Doug Crandell and none other than Damon Bailey, hawking a book on how to cook ribs – no, wait, it’s called Damon: Beyond the Glory.

• The popular Mapapa African Acrobats, a 6-man troupe, will combine Chinese acrobatics and the East African music tradition near the Main Street Stage all twelve days of the fair.

• Music performances include Hispanic Music Day (yeah, we know; that’s twice now we’ve mentioned it; Aug. 15), Newsboys (Aug. 12), Brooks & Dunn (Aug. 13), Pop Weaver Popcorn PRCA Rodeo (Aug. 14 & 15) Reba McEntire (Aug. 15), Clay Aiken (Aug. 16) and Switchfoot (Aug. 20). Then there’s Tony Hawk’s Xtreme Air show on Aug. 17 for all your skateboarding friends and family. All at the Marsh Grandstand.

• Deep-fried Oreos. Shall we describe or simply allow you to let your imagination wander? ISF folk tell us that this treat “took the Texas State Fair by storm last year with vendors selling 1,700 of them each day!” Exclamation point, indeed. Come on, Hoosiers, let’s beat those Texans!

• Chocolate-covered Key Lime Pie on a stick. Sorry, we can’t even describe this one because we drooled on the keyboard.

• Deep-fried Cinnamon Rolls. “Spaghetti” Eddie Porcelli, he of the deep-fried Twinkie fame (you remember him) is back with something new: cinnasticks. Porcelli takes a cinnamon roll (you get to watch him do this), dips it in batter and cooks it to the proverbial golden brown. Then comes the cinnamon, icing and the handy stick to carry it around with so you can gnaw while you gaze at the profusion of rides