Howdy, Fair Fans!

Hi everyone! My name is Toni and I LOVE the Clark County Fair!

I love the animals, I love watching 4-H kids strut their stuff, I love the events in the Grandstands that leave my teeth feeling gritty, I love the vendors and their free samples in the air-conditioned haven of the Events Center, I love that my community is small enough that I always bump into friends, I love the free entertainment like Dock Dogs and that cool hypnotist guy named Jerry (sure hope he’s back again this year). And I love, love, LOVE the food. More on that in the days to come.

I am excited to be blogging about the Fair this year for the Columbian. I’m not sure what all we will share together, but it will be a blast to find out! I plan to attend the Fair multiple days. Most years I go about five days; last year I went an exhausting eight days. But with better pacing and an earlier dedication to sufficient water consumption, I have high hopes of near-daily attendance this year.

I haven’t always been a fair fan. In fact, the Clark County Fair is the only one that has captured my heart. I grew up in multiple states and landed the longest in California. As a tween and teen, I usually went to our local Bay Area fair but it never was all that exciting. There were no animals, no signs of 4-H life, the food was basically the same stuff you’d find at a ballpark, and the only exhibits were vendors and professionals. It was a good way to kill an afternoon…and the nightly fireworks were fun…but otherwise, eh. It was a fair.

As an adult, living in a different, slightly more rural county (there were a few cows), my husband and I attended that county’s fair several times. But the last time we went was the last time I ever thought I’d attend a fair. Like a bad horror movie, there was a gang fight in the midway the day we went. Gun shots, people fleeing, panic, etc. After some injured people were air-lifted to nearby hospitals, the fireworks were cancelled and the fair closed early. The parking lot was terrifying, as all the cars had to exit out of one gate so some people amused themselves by shooting their guns in the air. I sat in the passenger seat in tears, mourning the loss of the innocence and simple pleasures a county fair is supposed to be.

So as you can imagine, when we moved here eight years ago, it took me awhile to even notice Clark County has a fair. But after a few summers of ignoring it, I decided to break my self-imposed “NO COUNTY FAIRS EVER AGAIN” rule. Everything else about living here had been a breath of fresh air…maybe the fair would be, too?

And thus was born one of Clark County Fair’s biggest fans ever.