BY GREGG LOSINSKI
THE COMING OF LABOR DAY always signals the official end of summer. Days may still stay hot, but the freedom of the summer gives way to the start of school and the long stretch of holiday-less weeks until Christmas. Another unofficial signal that summer has ended is the start of the state fair season.
Because Idaho is such a large and irregularly shaped state, we have ended up with three different state fairs. The Western Idaho State Fair claims to be in our capital city of Boise, but closer fact-checking shows that it is actually located in the suburb of Garden City. The North Idaho State Fair is in our largest city in the panhandle, Coeur d' Alene. Our own Eastern Idaho State Fair is down in scenic Blackfoot.
State fairs are one of the few institutions that remain that attempt to remind us of our agrarian roots. Not only
do they remind us of animal husbandry that was once commonplace to many of our ancestors, but they also
represent a time when entertainment was not as close as our smartphone. The coming of the fair was an opportunity for kids and families to get off the farm, ride some carnival rides, eat some unique foods, and have fun.
An enjoyable time can still be had at the fair, but as someone who had to work at the fair as part of their job for over two decades, the true attraction of the fair is not the animals, the rides, or the food booths. The real draw to the fair is the people watching! People come to the fair to be entertained but many of them end up on the center stage themselves. Long before there was a Facebook page dedicated to what people wore to Walmart, there was the
state fair.
I was always amazed at what some people decided to wear or not wear to the fair. Lots of folks wear their version of their best going to town outfits or others their casual comfy clothes, but there also seemed to be no lack of people wanting to draw attention away from the prize heifers. If I was being kind, I might say they were just testing outwhat they might wear for Halloween, but I don’t think that was the case.
While the fair does its best to promote a family atmosphere, some people see it as a chance to cut loose and run amuck. I unfortunately had to deal with more than a few folks that spent a little too long in the beer garden
before heading over to the Fish & Game booth to let us know how they felt about wolves and bears. Game wardens are a tough breed able to function in the foulest weather and trained to subdue the wildest of animals. But if you want to see them cower, just make them sit in a fair booth answering questions from the never-ending line of people shuffling by in an elephant ear-induced stupor.
Each year we had to design a new Fish & Game booth for the fair. The supervisors would have all kinds of wonderful ideas for elaborate displays to show all the data we had to convince the public we knew what we were doing. It took years before we could prove to them that sadly people don’t go to the fair to be educated—they go for fun. As long as we had big fish swimming in our huge tanks and a healthy assortment of dead animal heads on the wall, fair goers were happy. Explanatory verbiage beyond a sentence was a waste of ink.
After the forced hiatus of the pandemic, the fair is sure to be packed this year. Be sure to plot out your fair parking strategy in advance so you don’t end up parking in Firth and missing the grandstand concert of some ancient musician. Make sure to bring plenty of cash for the fair booths and rides and remember to dress so that you don’t steal attention away from the livestock
barn.