Skagit County Fair Builds Tradition
This year, Skagit County residents are celebrating their 125th fair. The first county fair was held in 1898, but gaps for war and pandemics makes 2024 the 125th occurrence.
“We are the longest running event in Skagit County,” said Frances Negranza, the assistant manager at the Skagit County Fairgrounds. “We’re really excited to be part of this long-standing tradition and feel very honored to continue it.”
This year, the fair operates August 8 to 11, a Thursday through Sunday, which is a change from previous years to allow working people the full weekend to attend. The Skagit County Fair includes food, vendors, entertainment, a carnival, and much more.
But the heart of the fair is agriculture. According to Negranza, the fair’s mission is to showcase Skagit County’s agricultural products and get the community involved. In many ways, that starts with youth.
Involving Youth in Agriculture
Negranza’s personal story symbolizes how fairs and agricultural education with youth matter for much longer than a few days at the end of summer.
“I’m pretty much a product of my own hometown fair,” Negranza said. She grew up in San Jose, California, in a family without an agricultural background. When she was in third grade, Negranza visited a community garden and remembered the awe of seeing a carrot pulled from the ground. From that moment on, Negranza remained fascinated by where food comes from.
In school, Negranza joined Future Farmers of America (FFA) and showed sheep, goats, and pigs at her local fair. That youthful involvement led her to focus a career on education about agriculture. Negranza knows, too, that experiences at the fair spark conversations at home about farming and food because that’s how it happened with her.
Negranza is not unusual. According to Dorothy Elsner, the WSU Skagit County 4-H Program Coordinator, many kids involved in 4-H come from non-farm families. Elsner estimated that about half came from families without previous 4-H experience. In the county, about 400 youth are involved in 4-H with 65 adult volunteers facilitating the process. FFA also supports county kids preparing for the fair.
In Skagit County, 4-H is dominated by animal projects, and the fair is the culmination of nearly a year of working toward a goal. In October, kids choose their project, from cavies (guinea pigs) up through rabbits and chickens and on to livestock and horses. They work with certified adult volunteers to learn all about the animals, their care, and industry standards. For those with livestock projects, the fair is not only about showing off their animals but also selling them. This year, more than 100 animals will be sold by 4-H youth. Elsner remembers of her own time in 4-H and “the pride of knowing I was raising something quality and I was raising it humanely.”
Through this long process, the youth develop a sense of pride and confidence in their work and a deeper knowledge of what goes into agriculture. “You can feel it the first day going into the fair, the escalation of excitement,” Elsner said. “And then you can feel the satisfaction toward the end and the pride. It just makes such really great memories and really great skills in our kids.”
This focus on youth and agriculture gives the fair its flavor. “If the kids didn’t come to the fair, it would just be a home and garden show or something,” said Elsner. “It wouldn’t have that vibrancy.”
Negranza has been involved in managing fairs for a decade and has been especially impressed with Skagit youth since she started here in February 2023. “I think Skagit County should be very, very proud of the youth that we’re developing and uplifting and who’s going to be in our community in the next decades.”
In this way, it is clear the Skagit County Fair is an investment in the future — the future of the fair, of the community, and of agriculture. All that vitality, of course, is supported by the widespread Skagit community involvement.
Community Event
When fairs first started in the 19th century, they were both celebration and competition.
“The fair is to celebrate agriculture,” said Elsner, “and that’s where it always started.”
Negranza added that local farmers in an area would together to compete. “Who has the best livestock? Who has the best seed crop or produce? Competing well with each other and finding out who has the best genetic lines and all that, that was the inception of a fair,” said Negranza.
Since those origins, fairs have grown into a community event. The aims and purposes of the Skagit County Fair reflects this wide, inclusive focus. One point of emphasis is to “present a well-balanced and wide variety of exhibits that include displays by people of all ages and representing all Skagit Couty industries.”
The fair attracts a wide variety of participants. In 2023, there were nearly 600 animals exhibited (and more than 3,700 exhibits overall). The fair typically brings between 25,000 and 30,000 people to the fairgrounds just south of downtown Mount Vernon.
Although some of those thousands might come for carnival rides or entertainment, the first aim and purpose of the fair is to “display products of the agricultural industry of our area.” Negranza said, “We use every inch of space that’s here, and the priority is always livestock.” That means the Skagit County Fair does important work in sharing the agricultural bounty to a wide variety of residents and visitors. “We try to at least spark that interest here,” said Negranza.
The fair also gives local farms and supporting businesses an opportunity to sponsor displays or donate equipment and materials. Farmers support the livestock sales, as well. The fair helps strengthen the community around agriculture.
Traditions
This year’s 125th celebration of the Skagit County Fair highlights the importance of tradition. As farmers know, building continuity can be hard, but the fair is often a touchstone for young people with agricultural inclinations.
Elsner participated in 4-H herself. Then she became a leader. Now some of the kids she helped are leaders. “They’re in their thirties now, and they are phenomenal, great humans that I knew when they were little kids,” she said. As her example demonstrates, the fairs build skills and memories that carry across the years.
By Adam Sowards: info@skagitonians.org