Washington State Fair must be ready to cancel. COVID-19 is historic party pooper
Throughout its 120 years, the Washington State Fair has surmounted nearly every obstacle in its path. It wasn’t stopped by the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic nor the years-long polio epidemic that followed. Neither by world wars nor the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The only time it took a hiatus was when the US government used the fairgrounds for a Japanese-American internment camp 78 years ago, a shameful blot on our history.
But can the state fair weather the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 and host what organizers fondly call “Washington’s biggest party,” launching Labor Day weekend?
That’s a shaky bet, especially now that county fairs around Western Washington — including the Pierce County Fair — are canceling. They exercised good caution in the face of a disease that’s infected more than 20,000 Washingtonians and killed over 1,000, while experts determinedly tamp down emerging cases like a midway game of whack-a-mole.
Yes, we all could use some escapist fun. We need a point on the horizon to look forward to, an occasion to celebrate being Washingtonians together. But to “Do the Puyallup” this year may be a bridge too far — at least doing it in the customary, in-person way.
As of now, state fair officials still plan to hold the Sept. 4-27 end-of-summer bash. If Gov. Jay Inslee sticks with his tentative state reopening blueprint, the fourth and final phase will start no sooner than mid-July, allowing gatherings of more than 50 people.
“We know it’s a strange year but we truly want to be able to welcome people back,” Fair spokesperson Stacy Van Horne told the TNT’s editorial page editor last week. “We’re just trying to find a safe way to do that.”
For planning purposes, she said a final decision must be made by midsummer. For now, she said, they’re stuck in “Limbo Land.”
Not quite the ticket-sales appeal of SillyVille or Timber Gulch, but we get the picture.
Fair officials are exploring extra disinfection practices and crowd-control measures, such as changing how people line up for rides. But they didn’t exactly inspire confidence with a disclaimer they added to their website last week: “By visiting the Washington State Fair, guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.”
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department says it hopes the fair will take a stand for community safety and be prepared to cancel. We do, too.
The reality is, a festival that defines success by attracting more than a million people to Puyallup over a three-week period would be a tough sell not just for public health officials, but also for fairgoers, vendors, exhibitors, entertainers and employees. Some residents of the host city surely would be apprehensive, as well.
Consider the frank assessment of John Morrison, CEO of the Clark County Fair, after the recent decision to cancel that event near Vancouver for the first time since 1942: “Keeping people apart to the greatest degree you can is effective in limiting the transmission of this disease,” he said. “Fairs are just the opposite of that.”
Like the Seattle Seahawks, whose season is set to kick off in September, fair officials are hopeful that time is on their side. Van Horne noted that the state fair comes a month after the county fair circuit.
But the Seahawks know that even 3 ½ months from now, there’s a real chance they’ll play in empty stadiums, as lingering coronavirus restrictions force fans to watch from home.
The Puyallup Fair experience certainly doesn’t translate to remote enjoyment like a football game. But fair officials may need to weigh options and quickly switch gears.
Kudos to the Pierce County Fair for deciding to “go virtual” this year, after shelving its Aug. 6-9 event at Frontier Park in Graham. The heart of the summer fair tradition is helping young FFA and 4-H students showcase their animals and projects. County and state fairs can still help do that, at a minimum.
But why stop there? The Puyallup Fair has survived periodic seasons of national crisis; perhaps creative minds and modern technology can salvage this one, too.
Livestreamed scone and elephant ear assembly lines, with curbside sales? Virtual Extreme Scream and Classic Coaster rides via webcam feeds?
Even if Washington’s biggest party is called off, you can still have a 120th birthday to remember.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 8:00 AM.