Where did our State Fair go?

[Ezrablum]

A few years ago, Skip Wegner was brought in by the Fair Board to "reinvent" it. In so doing, he destroyed our State Fair by trying to remake it in the image of the State Fair of Texas. Everything enjoyable, pleasant, unique, and distinctive about our fair has been ripped out and torn to shreds so we can have more "premium" parking and higher tickets with fewer eating choices, with traditional vendors forced out. He tore out the cannas that used to line the streets, concreted up the fountains, and shredded the Made in Oklahoma building with this Disney-On-Acid nightmare called "Agtropolis."

I know our fair wasn't perfect; some upgrades and maintenance have desperately been needed, some of which have been implemented. But under that banner, we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

I remember to this day someone in city gov't saying the Fair needed to shed its "funnel cakes and corn dog" image, which infuriates me still to this day. For Heaven's sake, they added a stinking Tea Room to the fair a few years ago, which was a flaming disaster (and fortunately, to my knowledge, wasn't repeated). Fairs are about showcasing works of a state and its people. I have no idea what the guys running it now are trying to do.

With the shutdown of the space needle this year, they've finally worn me out. I'm done with the fair. Whomever is running the fair can plow it down and put up whatever elitist crap they have designed for it.

This was the first post in this thread that I really agreed with. And I appreciate Frittergirl's comment a couple of posts below Soonerdaves as well.

I moved here in September of 2004 and attended the OK state Fair for the first time. I enjoyed it a lot. I went back every year for a little bit and generally looked forward to it. Somewhere along the line it began changing and I assume this is when it was "reinvented" by suits.

I have one specific example. There was a food vendor who sold delicious catfish run by a really sweet old black lady. I remember seeing her the first year in 04 and then maybe one or two years after that. But Last year I went and she was gone. This shocked me. I really enjoyed walking around the entire fairgrounds and scouting out which place to spend my precious money on. I don't have a lot to spend. Last year it was nothing but the same. Every 50-100 yards or so the same corn dog stand, same funnel cake vendor, etc and it all seemed to be run by one company. A couple of the old favorites were still there like the place that sells the mini jugs of root beer and the indian taco stands but even they had a generic feel about them. None of the food places had a genuine and independent feel to them. And this one example of the missed catfish house represents countless unique fair food vendors. I can't remember them all but then that's what happens when something disappears without any warning. It's a real shame.

I contemplated going this year but knew that none of the vendors I missed would probably ever be back. I suppose I didn't really miss anything this year.

Even the people watching seemed less interesting last year. I suppose if you "make it safer and cleaner for the kids" you end up taking a lot of the real grit and authenticity out of life. Seems bittersweet indeed.



I loved this article you linked to as well bluedogok. My sentiments exactly I suppose.

I had this blog post come in an email from Architect Magazine today. It is about the "changes" to Atlantic City and how the "corporatization" has profoundly changed what made the Boardwalk there The Boardwalk.

Architect - Beyond Buildings: The Evil of Banality