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Community Corner

Not Just Barnyard Animals: A Revamped Sonoma-Marin Fair Gets Ready to Show the Goods

With nearly a dozen music acts, World's Ugliest Dog contest, craft displays and rides, there's something for everyone, say organizers

Last year attendance at the Sonoma – Marin Fair was up 2 percent to 60,073 folks passing through the gates. That’s a lot of visitors to P-Town.

And yet, when you talk to people around Petaluma about the fair, a lot of negative perceptions come up. People talk about drunks and a carney atmosphere.

“I haven’t been to the fair in years, but when I do, it’s usually for a particular band,” said Petaluma resident Karen Saunders. Once she’s inside the gates of the 60-acre fairgrounds and event center, she usually sticks around to see the barnyard animals.

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“We haven’t gone in years. Not since the kids were little,” said Stan Finley, who was returning books to the Petaluma Library with his wife Bonita.  When they did go, the Finley family went mainly for the carnival rides.

 Is it possible that Petalumans who haven’t been to the fair recently, don’t know that the fair they grew up with has morphed into an all-age appropriate, tech-savvy and audience participation-driven experience?

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“The reinvention of the fair has been from top to bottom," said Vicki DeArmon, marketing director for the fair. "This is not the same fair of five years ago. Our new CEO Patricia Conklin came on three years ago and her creativity allowed for some great changes.

Boy, she’s not kidding.

You know how you always feel that you’re missing something at the fair? That even if you had a list of things you liked, it would be hard to coordinate your day?

Not anymore.

“Texters can text the word “fair” to 66746 and receive fair entertainment news. In effect, folks can create their own personalized schedules while at the fair… and get alerts when their favorite events are beginning,” said DeArmon.

There are teen programs (don’t miss the text messaging competition) and programs for seniors (bingo, health screenings and wii bowling), live celebrity chef culinary demonstrations and really unusual things like The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s big interactive screen which allows 20 users to control and underwater scuba avatar as it swims with sardines and avoids jelly fish. 

All of the traditional events like kids showing livestock and the Diaper Derby are still there, but there is also an emphasis on doing and making things. For example, there will be a Make & Go Workshop sponsored by Hobby Town USA where kids can make model planes and cars. 

This year’s musical line up includes urban soul and R&B band Tower of Power, '80s crooner Rick Springfield and Petaluma’s own , as well as classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, The Charlie Daniels Band, known for their hoky tonk sound and fiddle, The Lost Boys and Frobeck. And don’t forget the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest, which receives global media coverage.

Still, more than a few people gave me that look like I was crazy when I asked them if they were going to the fair this year. Several made references to last year’s opening day accident when the Wacky Worm kids roller coaster cost a carnival worker his leg.

“Look, I want Petaluma to be a nice destination and I want visitors to have a nice opinion of Petaluma, because it is a great town,” said Jonathan Hall, a Petaluma musician. “With my kids, I feel like I have to be on my guard all the time. You hear about knives being found by the police at the fair,” Hall said.

Police are on duty at the fair in uniform and undercover. So I asked Dept. Lt. Tim Lyons about weapons at the fair.

“It’s like any other big event. It’s like going to the airport. We wand everyone. The knives we find are the kind your grandpa carries on his key chain,” said Lyons. “It’s a very safe event to take the whole family. I would leave my kids at the fair… I have.”

And speaking of kids at fairs, the Sonoma - Marin fair has a Code Adam system in place to reunite any wandering son or daughter with his or her parents.

Fair organizers are hoping that anyone who has skipped the fair in recent years will rediscover it. Opening day is June 22.

Best advice for balancing all the activities during the four days of the fair?

Get out of the carnival area into the rest of the fair where there are hundreds of things to do and see. "

If you haven’t been to the fair lately, you are missing out,” said DeArmon.

The Sonoma-Marin County Fair kicks off Wednesday June 22 and continues through Sunday, June 26.

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