The Biggest Show in New Mexico is underway in Albuquerque – the state fair. It has been said this is the one time each year when the city slickers get to watch the country folks – and vice versa – and not be accused of some illegal or illicit act.
It’s a real study in humankind – the good kind and the bad kind.
For years I reported from the fair. I recall talking to the roosters and interviewing stars. It seems the stars were bigger better back then.
Brooks & Dunn agreed to come to our fair before they won all kinds of awards. Between booking time in the spring and the fair in September, they became giants in the entertainment world – but they kept their commitment at our “cheap contract price” and led the way to what must have been the most successful rodeo/entertainment lineup since Roy Rogers opened the place in 1958 (another story for another time). Hasn’t been such a lineup since.
I actually worked at the fair (yes, as a governor’s exempt state employee) during the last term of Governor Bruce King (whose family has always, even to this day supported kids activities at the fair) and during the administration of Governor Richardson. I was there when candidate Bill Richardson made history in the Guinness Book of World Records -- while campaigning in 2002. Over an eight-hour period, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations shattered President Theodore Roosevelt's record for the most handshakes by a politician. “Richardson's new mark of 13,392 for an eight-hour period, with a Guinness World Records official standing by, went well beyond the Roosevelt record of 8,513 handshakes set at the White House," reported the Los Angeles Times.
The fair manager at the time (who worked for Governor Johnson) came by to watch the spectacle of the handshakes. She said, “I just had to see this going on.”
Giant pumpkins, corn dogs, billy goats, horses, rodeo, carnival rides (and yes handshakes) all make up the fair. And, the shopping center where you can buy something that “slices & dices”.
There are contests for just about everything.
Sadly, victory is so important to some participants in contests – there are cheaters. I recall one instance when a “champion” in some junior livestock competition was crowned in New Mexico – and was supposed to have gone to the “happy hunting ground” immediately thereafter – but ended up a short time later entered in a similar contest in a neighboring state. Recently an acquaintance said he knew one family that would never enter animals in a completion at the state fair as long as kinfolks from the family I alluded earlier was involved. There’s a lesson there, too. It’s not all nice and cozy out there boys & girls. It’s not fair, but it is the fair. People take advantage.
The fair is a microcosm of our world – from the fish to the corn dogs, the carnies (and carnes) to the cowboys and the contests.
I visited a lot of fairs and fairgrounds to learn (and steal ideas for our fair). Virginia, Florida, Texas, San Diego, Sacramento, Puyallup, Yakima. All are unique, and all serve a purpose – education and a few minutes for guests to live in another world.
In some form or another, for the sake of the kids, New Mexico’s State Fair should survive.
