They really hopped to it at the fair

Published 11:03 pm Wednesday, September 5, 2007

MONROE — The 99th annual Evergreen State Fair finished strong, with attendance expected to be close to last year’s 900,000 people.

While the official turnout of the 12-day fair, which ended Monday, has yet to be calculated, good weather helped keep turnstiles rolling this year, said Elizabeth Grant, the fair’s marketing director.

And that turnout, in turn, helped the fair on Aug. 24 attract a crowd to a bunny hop: 1,886 people tapped their feet, hopped forward, backward, then hopped three times forward. That is expected to set a new Guinness World Record, Grant said.

The fair’s theme this year was “Be Somebunny! Hop to The Fair!”

“We know a lot of people had a good time,” Grant said.

She hopes this year’s fair has made money to upgrade buildings at the aging fairgrounds, which was built in the 1940s.

In addition to carnival games and other activities, the fair featured many animal, crop and craft exhibits that allowed people to interact with local farmers, said Sherry Stovner, who was in charge of exhibits. In a swine barn, eight piglets were born on Sept. 2. Many people dropped by to watch them.

“All the buildings, they were constantly full of people,” Stovner said.

No major incidents were reported during the fair, Grant said. The fair went smoothly, thanks to many volunteers.

For instance, about 450 people from local churches volunteered cleaning up bathrooms and weeding at the fairgrounds before the fair started.

Crews began cleaning up the fairgrounds on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, officials have already started planning for the next fair, which will mark the fair’s 100th birthday, fair manager Mark Campbell said.

As part of their centennial planning, visitors this year were asked for their stories about the fair, Campbell said. Fair officials plan to present those stories to the public in a video, brochures and booklets during the 2008 fair.

“I’m excited,” he said. “Personally, I like history. I think there’s a lot we can learn from the history.”

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.