San Juan County Fair prepares for virtual launch

— from Adrienne Bourne for San Juan County Fair —

San Juan County Fair staff are preparing to launch the San Juan County Fair virtually this year. The fair is an opportunity to showcase all the talents and resources of our islands, and we are working to host exhibits online, and offer virtual entertainment. Local businesses and non-profit organizations are encouraged to participate as “virtual vendors” this year (our online advertising fee is $40) and we hope you will consider supporting the fair, and our local economy by offering special discounts during the week of Fair. We would also like to encourage local restaurants and food establishments to think about making some delicious fair inspired food for all the Elephant Ear & Corn Dog enthusiasts Aug. 12-15. For any one who is curious about what the Fair will look like this year, they can visit www.sjcfair.org/virtualfair. 

Some departments, like Island Writers and Grains and Forage have early entry deadlines. Island Writers submissions should be emailed to info@sjcfair.org by July 17, and Grains and Forage entries should be uploaded by July 24. If you’re wondering what we mean by “upload” and “entry” it means that while we know we won’t be able to look at exhibits at the Fairgrounds in person Aug. 12-15. We still want to see what you have made, grown, and raised, so we are asking you to consider submitting jpegs, pdfs or videos as your “entries” this year. Open Class Department Guidelines for 2020, and our online entry form can be found at www.sjcfair.org/onlineentry.

If you have a favorite fair department, we encourage you to still participate this year – and if you’ve never entered anything in the Fair before because you can’t make it to the Fairgrounds on Entry Day from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. – this is your year! We will be accepting online entries now through Aug. 1. All you have to do is take a picture of your blue ribbon worthy apple pie, the sweater you knit while in quarantine, flowers from your garden, your pets and/or livestock, or whatever else you have enjoyed making, growing or raising at home and upload it to our website. 

For entertainment this year, we will be streaming concerts with Duke and Mojo Nation, Brograss, Chameleons, Steve Dyer, Desolation Sound, Carolyn Caruso, Tom Rawson, Wren & Della and many other local performers. Local restaurants like Duck Soup and Setsunai Noodles will be providing cooking demonstrations and there will be online demonstrations with local farmers and WSU Extension programs. 

This has been a unique year, which has presented many challenges for our community. We are all in this together and the fair’s mission is to showcase all the talents of our islands. Let your stars shine bright and show off what you have accomplished this year by participating in the Fair!