COURTESY DRMIES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
PIG RACES
CHOCOLATE-COVERED BACON
GETTIN’ FUNKY AT THE FAIR
Progress and pastimes at the Lane County Fair
West Stage dedicated to the live music of
local bands as well as the inaugural Green
Village, a fi rst-time exhibit featuring
all local providers and participants that
Biven touted as an “educational, fun and
entertaining way to look at sustainability.”
Also, there was an attempt made this
year to provide more free entertainment.
“We recognize that this is the year that
people are staying closer to home,” Biven
said, acknowledging the impact of our
downbeat economy. “The concept this
year is that we packed it full, lots of free
entertainment. We want people to be busy
every second.”
Among this year’s new, free features
is the Boost Mobile FreestyleMX.com
tour, featuring world-class stunt riders
fl ying back and forth over a 300-foot-
long “footprint” or ramp. Biven said such
motocross action is “one of those things
that everybody can enjoy,” city and country
dweller, kid and grandparent alike. After
all, she added, “They’re going to be fl ying
40 feet in the air — you can’t miss them.”
Add to this an appearance by J.D. Platt
& the K9 Kings — a troupe of agility
dogs including the third-place fi nisher on
the CBS program Greatest American Dog
— more rides, more food vendors and,
in general, a selection of “off-the-wall
things,” and it’s not surprising when Biven
says that she is “super excited” about this
year’s fair. “We’re really trying to step out
there,” she said.
It’s a welcome step, to be sure, and
changing things up without screwing
them up is fi ne. When it comes to county
fairs, however, funky is as funky does.
For some people, no amount of fancy
fi re breathing or exotic outback rodents
will outdo the pleasantly odd appeal of
chickens walking or the surreal time warp
of Hee Haw’s Roy Clark pickin’ his six
string. The much-ballyhooed and hugely
successful Oregon Country Fair may
win hands-down for sheer kaleidoscopic
hippie spectacle, but — in this age of
light-speed infotainment and endless on-
demand diversions — there is something
to be said for the atavistic, anarchic appeal
of traditional county fairs, with their
demo booths and step-right-up barkers,
their wafting deep-fried smells and proud
displays of amateur husbandry.
Biven said it’s the collision of past
and present that makes the fair worth
experiencing anew. “To me,” she said, “the
appeal of the fair is, I love the juxtaposition
of traditional agriculture with fair carnival
chaos. It’s almost like Las Vegas in a box
— noise, lights, food, rides going, sweet
and savory food. And walk three more feet
and see sweet little baby pigs, and then see
a zooming fl ying motorcycle.”
In other words, funky is where you fi nd it.
MAKE IT SNAPPY
D
o you feel like Ansel Adams or Annie
Liebovitz when you pick up a camera?
Here’s your chance for fame and (a little)
fortune at the Lane County Fair Photography
Contest. The best photos will be prominently on
exhibit in the main hall of the fairgrounds.
If you missed the July 31 deadline for entries,
you can begin preparing for next year by checking
out www.atthefair.com Click on exhibits, then
scroll down below the livestock rules to fi nd out
specifi cs about the photo contest.
Eugene Weekly’s graphic designer and main
photographer Todd Cooper is judging the
photojournalism entries this year, one of 18
categories in four sections: junior, intermediate,
adult and professional. Cash and gift certifi cates
will go to the winners in the nonprofessional
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IS ONE OF THE CATEGORIES BEING JUDGED AT THE COUNTY FAIR.
sections.
THIS PHOTO WAS SHOT IN JODHPUR, INDIA.
More than two dozen businesses and individuals
are contributing cash awards up to $200, gift cer-
tifi cates and digital equipment to this year’s photo contest.
For those age 17 or under, a Youth Photography Contest will be going on the fi rst three days of the Fair. Young photographers
are asked to shoot the Fair itself and submit photos by 5 pm Friday, Aug. 21, to the Fair offi ce at 796 W. 13th Ave. Find the rules
on the Fair website, or call Justin C. Williams at 343-3195 for more information. — Ted Taylor
TODD COOPER
C
hocolate-covered bacon and deep-
fried Twinkies. Frisbee fetching
dogs and Australia’s smallest
marsupial. Texas Hold ’Em and kids on
pedal-powered tractors. Jugglers, jokers,
clowns and carnies, curly fries and
funhouse mirrors. Flying pigs and racing
motorbikes … no, sorry, make that fl ying
motorbikes and racing pigs.
This is the Lane County Fair.
And then, like every county fair every-
where, there will such staples of nostalgia
as past-their-prime mega-groups hitting
the circuit; this year it will be Foreigner
playing “Cold as Ice” for the umpteenth
time, while screaming people are catapulted
sky high on a giant mechanical slingshot;
4-H cows munching hay and laying pies;
lanky teenagers wolfi ng down elephant
ears while Sponge Bob Square Pants, or
whoever he is, chats up the little ones.
Listen, if all of the above doesn’t strike
you as genuinely funky — as in David
Lynch-meets-Barnum & Bailey funky —
what does? The motto for the 2009 Lane
County Fair is, “It’s all good.” It could just
as well be: “Something old, something new
and a kangaroo.”
According to marketing manager Rachel
Biven, the fair’s brand-new management
team made a concerted effort both to
modernize and funk-ify the fair without
losing any of the event’s age-old rural appeal.
With the new team in place, Biven said, the
fair has been energized and revamped to fi t
our changing times.
“With new blood breeds new life,”
she explained of this year’s changes and
additions. “It’s really important to keep up
with the times. Fairs around the country are
in a place where they’re competing for the
attention of super tech-savvy kids. That’s
what’s driving a lot of things that we’re
doing while trying to honor our traditional
county [fair]. We had to do some serious
moving around to make this work.
“I don’t think people will be disappointed
at all,” Biven added.
First, she said, an effort was made to
include more local vendors and entertainers
than in years past. These will include, for
instance, nighttime pyrotechnics by Eugene
outfi t the Apocalyptica Fire Factory and a
BY RICK LEVIN