EDITOR:

When does the fair board meet? Is it open to the public? Are citizens allowed to comment and ask questions?

I have some concerns that happen every year at the fair. Here are some of them.

Whose decision is it to only sell 400 megabands for the rides? For some folks, that is a deal-breaker. If I were selling something and people wanted more of that something, then I would do my best to sell that something to them.

Why doesn’t somebody come up with a different way of handling the parking, especially the one that most handicapped people use. Oh, wait. Somebody has come up with a solution. Not to worry, though. We’ll look at that after the fair is over since we can’t fix it now. And then the fair ends and everyone who could have a hand in fixing it goes back to their real job. “We’ll see you next year!”

Who hires the people at the desk at the fair office? “Question about the fair? Oh, let me see here, there is a form here somewhere” (shuffling through a stack of papers.) “I wanted to work at the fair, again, and nobody has contacted me”. “Oh my! Well I would think they would have got in touch by now. They usually have a meeting the week before the fair” (This was exactly one week before the fair.)

I asked for direction on where I could park for handicap parking. I knew that a couple of non-vendors were allowed to park inside the gates behind the exhibition building. I was planning on getting a mobility scooter or electric wheelchair so I could enjoy the whole fair. Her eyes lit up. “Mobility scooter? Oh, you have to get that cleared.” Seriously? I can’t get an electric wheelchair of scooter in the fairgrounds without permission? Walmart has a dozen or so, Meijer has a dozen or so. Elmer’s has at least six.

But after the 21st, it all doesn’t matter… until next year.

Tom Grant

Escanaba