At the Fair Do’s and Do Not’s

As a seasoned fair attendee I see a lot of behavior that is good and a lot that is bad. Also, there is a lot that I find annoying, but that’s just me (I get road rage at the grocery store).

Do

• Offer your used Blue Ribbon Bargain book to a stranger entering the fair as you leave for your final day. You’ve gotten all of the value expected out of your book and now you can pass it along to a stranger. I do this every year and I LOVE handing off my book to someone that can use it. Most 1-day only fair attendees do not purchase a bargain book and can hopefully benefit from my used book. If you are uncomfortable handing off your book simply leave it on a bench in the fair.
• Offer your final couple of ride tickets to a stranger. The ride prices and sheets of tickets are structured for you to have a useless 2-3 tickets at the end of your day; offer these tickets to a stranger.
• Offer a cookie off of your heaping pile of Sweet Martha’s Cookies to a stranger. This isn’t something I do because it takes 6 members of my family to eat a cone of cookies! However, we have benefited from this in the past and it is AWESOME when you just want ONE cookie to be offered ONE cookie!
• Share your knowledge with strangers. If you hear or see someone struggling over a map point them in the right direction if you can.
• Thank a fair employee and volunteer. The fair has paid and volunteer staff and it takes a village to put on our great fair every year! Take a moment to thank someone that contributed to your fair experience.
• Share your space with strangers and OFFER your spare space to strangers. The fair is a busy place and nobody can eat an Off-da taco without a place to sit. If you are only using 1/2 of a bench or table offer your spare space to those seeking out a place to sit.

Do Not

• Please, for the love of all people do NOT fill your disposable water bottle at the water bottle refill stations. These stations are meant for reusable water bottles that can be filled without touching your nasty germs to the faucet. I can’t believe the number of people I witnessed performing this unforgivable act at the fair this year.
• Use an umbrella. Over 125,000 people and over 250,000 on the second Saturday visit the fair. There is not room for everyone to carry an umbrella. Wear a hat to keep the rain off of your face and a raincoat or poncho to keep the rain off of your person. If you must use an umbrella do NOT use a large golf umbrella and do NOT allow a child to wrangle the umbrella. If it is sunny and you are using an umbrella I’ll rain down an impressive amount of cursing on you. It’s all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out…
• Smoke on the fair grounds outside of designated smoking areas. The fair has several well-placed smoking areas. You are NOT allowed to smoke or vape outside of designated areas. I personally hope the fair does away with these and bans smoking fair-wide.
• Stop and stand in stupid places. Do you know those people that stop and stand at the top of escalators? These are the same people that stop and stand at busy intersections, building entrances, or in large circles in front of the beer gardens. The fair is BUSY and if you stop and congregate in the middle of a busy intersection it slows the movement of thousands of people. Pull over to the side of the road (not in an intersection) or onto the curb to stop.
• Bring a wagon. Do I even need to say more about this? If I do, you are probably reading the wrong blog.
• Forget to flush. Not all toilets at the fair are auto flushing toilets. I hope this is all I have to say on this topic.
• Leave your garbage in the seating areas of shows. I tripped on a drink cup, stumbled back and stepped in a bowl of ice cream at the coliseum this year. There are garbage cans everywhere please utilize the garbage cans.

What are your fair Do and Do Not’s?!