SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — A debate has sparked in Skagit and Whatcom counties about 2021 schedules for two separate fairs.
The Skagit County Fair argues that a plan to extend the dates of the Northwest Washington Fair could put their smaller, more localized fair out of business.
“2020 has been a really rough year for fairs,” said Skagit County Fair Manager, Aric Gaither.
With COVID-19 mandates shutting down fairs in 2020, the focus now turns to 2021 and how to have a safe fair, while still making a profit to make up for this year’s loss.
“We all sympathize with the need to have a very, very successful 2021,” Gaither said.
Gaither was notified in late July that the Northwest Washington Fair in Lynden was considering extending their dates from six to ten days for 2021.
This would mean the much larger fair would overlap with their smaller county fair causing the potential for competition.
He, along with Skagit County commissioners and fair patrons, wrote letters and made calls asking for this decision to be rethought.
“We are not bigger, we cannot compete. That is the story,” Gaither said.
The Skagit County Fair typically has around 25,000 visitors a year, while the Northwest Washington Fair has over 100,000.
They also share some of the same vendors, 4H, FFA participants, and production company.
“It’s going to cause irreversible, negative, and possibly fatal damage to the fair,” Gaither said.
Chris Pickering the CEO of the Northwest Washington Fair said the idea of extending their dates started long before COVID shut down the fair.
“The conversation about expanding to a 10-day fair has been something the board has talked about for 20 plus years,” Pickering said.
All of the concerns brought forth were presented to the fair board who did research into how the date overlap would impact the Skagit County Fair and others in the state, according to Pickering.
“People are fiercely loyal to their county fair. People who are going to go to the Skagit County Fair are going to continue to do so and the people who come to the Northwest Washington Fair will continue to do so,” Pickering said.
“Ultimately when we looked at each of the concerns that were presented there was minimal to no overlap. For example, we don’t use the same carnival. As far as exhibitors, we had three different exhibitors that actually showed goats at their fair and ours that’s it. We use the same production company, but I’ve been assured that it’s a different crew," continued Pickering.
The official announcement on if the date change will happen is expected this week but it has some Skagit County Fair participants worried about the future.
“Kids are only 4H from the time their five to the time their 18. It’s their childhood,” said Dorothy Elsner, WSU Skagit County 4H program manager said.
“Those kids would not have an opportunity to exhibit their projects anywhere else if our Skagit County Fair was ruined by this,” she said.
Pickering said extending their dates for 2021 allows for an increased number in people, vendors, exhibits and more to take part in the fair helping add to future growth.
After a tough 2020 fair season, most are struggling financially and anticipating a drop in attendance
“All the fairs are at risk right now. We’re budgeting a 20% decrease in attendance just because we’re not sure that people will want to come out next year. They still might have some fears around COVID. So, we’re all looking at a decrease in attendance," said Pickering.