OREGON FAIR

Fair preparation: Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair opens today


H&N photo by Andrew Creasey
Rick Hill looks on as his son Derrick stabilizes their amusement park ride in preparation for the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair.
From:  heraldandnews.com
By ANDREW CREASEY H&N Staff Reporter
September 4, 2013
Klamath Falls,OR---Not too long after last year’s Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair, event organizers were busy planning the next one.
When it comes to the fair, a regional event anticipated Basin-wide that can attract almost 50,000 people, it pays to start early.
“It’s not something you can start planning a week before it starts,” said Dave Dillabo, fair manager.

 

H&N photo by Andrew Creasey
Rick Hill sets up his amusement park ride on Wednesday morning in preparation of the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair.So, on Wednesday morning, the fairgrounds in Tulelake was teeming with workers and volunteers assembling rides, preparing food carts, tugging livestock into stockades and cleaning the facilities for the big event.
In total, about 30 volunteers, 40 paid employees and the eight members of the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair Board aligned all of their efforts into preparing the fairgrounds for the crowds of Basin residents that will flood into the area this morning.
“This is a one-year family reunion,” said Venancio Hernandez, vice president of the board. “All the kids that grew up here and had to leave to find better lives or get jobs get to come back home.”
Hernandez said four of his five children have left the area, and they all return home to attend the fair.
There will be 20 rides — five for children — hauled in from teams and companies from Oregon, Washington and California.
The event attracts 33 food vendors, who will sell a wide range of cuisine, from traditional American, to Mexican and Chinese. One vendor sells deep-fried Twinkies.
Events include livestock auctions, arts and crafts, rodeo, destruction derbies and mud bogs, as well as live music.
In addition to the entertainment and delicious fried goods, there will be 90 commercial vendors, some of whom represent Basin businesses.
There is no admission fee to attend the fair, but organizers have encouraged a pay-what-you-can system in hopes that the public will donate money to keep the fair alive, Dillabo said.