Fair food: No vendors outside gates leaves bad taste

Re: “This year, you’ll have to buy a ticket to get greasy fair-food fix,” (TNT, 9/3).

For years vendors have set up temporary stands outside the Washington State Fairgrounds to serve burgers, scones and other items allowing small entrepreneurs to make a few extra dollars and the public to avoid the price of admission and the higher prices inside the fairgrounds.

Many people like the tastes of the fair throughout the fair’s duration but cannot afford the price of admission each time. Since the Fair Association bought the property near the main entrance in 2014 and a nearby property in 2015, the vendors dropped from 13 to five last year and to zero this year.

A spokesman says the fair did not say no to vendors but this year received no applications. Could it be because the cost to rent the space made it unprofitable? For these outside vendors and the customers who frequented them, it seems to be the Washington State Un-Fair.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Fair food: No vendors outside gates leaves bad taste."