Fair proceeds with minor changes

A staple of the summer in Crook County, fair week is set to go ahead with most of its component parts intact this year. According to Carolyn Fowler, Fair Secretary, the only major change will be removal of some of the seating.

“We’re not going to have as many bleachers out to try to keep people distanced,” she says.

“Everyone is encouraged to bring their camping chairs so they can sit where they want and as far away from people as they want, but still be able to see the shows and enjoy them.”

To the theme of “A Perfect 2020 Vision,” the week of fair is scheduled for July 25 to August 2. Most of the spectacles visitors have grown used to will still be offered because the event takes place largely in the outdoors and in spacious grounds with plenty of room for social distancing.

“We just canceled two of the entertainments,” says Fowler. “We took out the bounce houses and we took away the Family Fun Night games, just because it can get so congested with so many kids at once and we thought it was probably not a good idea to have those.”

To make up for these two cancellations, two new entertainments will be on offer.

The first is Extreme Raptors, a birds of prey show that will be set up by the Extension Office’s hoop house.

Three raptor shows will take place on the Wednesday of fair week and three more on the Thursday.

“I also brought in Matt Henry, who does a comedy juggling act and he also does a big bubble show, which I think will be really awesome for kids and adults,” she says.

It’ll be business as usual for the animal events over fair week, except for the seating and the request for visitors to practice social distancing. The Youth Rodeo and Ranch Rodeo will go ahead as planned.

“The youth rough stock rodeo is going to happen also, they’re just going to limit the number of people who can be back by the pens so there aren’t as many people around as the bulls and horses come out,” Fowler says.

“As far as spectators, there’s a lot of room for them to spread out and they can bring their own chairs and sit where they want. There are limited bleachers there too.”