Fairs keep the state's agricultural traditions alive. They also offer an attraction that draws about 800,000 visitors annually. For many families, it's the experience of going to a real county fair. The midway has its share of visitors, but most fairgoers also walk through the sheep barn, watch the oxen pull or ooh and ahh over the mega-vegetables on display. Experiential agriculture the hands-on opportunity to pick apples or take a hayride is growing in the Northeast.
Fairs cater to that idea.
And then there's the community involvement of a fair - the social capital of community ties and the real capital raised by local groups. Fairs give a financial boost to organizations that run booths and provide most of a fair's needed volunteer labor. That's a question lawmakers should weigh carefully. One of the bills will be a tough call in a year dominated by the school-funding crisis. The rest would be added to the awards for contest winners.