The Salcha Fair is back! After two years of hiatus, planning is under way for a different kind of fair that’ll be held in mid-August.
Salcha Fair Association board President Christina Abel says planning for the 2019 event can shift into high gear, now that the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly has approved leasing the Salcha Fairgrounds for four years at the rate of exactly a dollar a year.
“We’re just setting up a new lease with the new board,” she said, “because this lease hadn’t been updated in years.”
Abel says that’s the same deal the borough had with the fair association before the organization ran into trouble after the 2016 event, due to mounting financial problems and poor record-keeping. The association canceled the last two fairs to give it time to pay off bills and reorganize. And to transform the event from an expensive fair with rides and other costly attractions into a simpler, one-day event she calls a country fair.
“We’re going to have events like sack races, and pie-eating contests and hay bale-stacking contests – just good ol’ fashioned fun!”
Abel says this year’s fair will bring it back to what it was intended to be years ago, before the association tried to stage bigger events to compete with larger fairs, especially the biggest – the Tanana Valley Fair. She says the country fair won’t require all those expensive attractions, nor the high admission price needed to pay for them.
“It’s going to be free to get in,” she said. “There will be a small fee just to get into some of the events, but we’re looking at a very nominal fee, just to help pay for supplies.”
Abel says that should attract more families and community members – especially those who grow produce. She says scheduling the fair for Aug. 17 should allow enough time for growers to produce some prize-winning fruits, vegetables and livestock.
Abel says the fair association will now begin promoting the event in earnest, starting with posts on its Facebook page.
