Manager says 10-day Northwest Washington Fair ‘exceeded expectations’
The Aug. 12-21 Northwest Washington Fair was unprecedented in more ways than one: It marked the return of the fair after last year’s pandemic-induced cancellation, it was the first time the fair ran for 10 days rather than six and served as a not-so-triumphant trial run for a cashless paying method called BlastPass.
“It was a very successful fair,” said fair manager Jim Baron. “The attendance was great. With a 10-day fair, you can’t make a direct comparison to six-day fair, but it really exceeded our expectations.”
Although fair officials track the number of folks who visit the fair in Lynden, they declined to release attendance numbers. Baron said the fair stopped publishing numbers a few years ago because there is no standard counting method in the fair industry, and it doesn’t make sense to compare numbers with fairs that have different methods.
“Do you count unique visits or how many times people return?” he said. “We have followed the trend in the fair industry to not publish attendance because of the problems with what you compare it to.”
The first couple days of the fair took place during record-breaking high temperatures and some of the worst smoke Whatcom has seen this season, and attendance was very low the first two days, Baron said. But visitors who chose not to attend due to the weather conditions could push their visit to a later day, since the smoke and heat hit early on in the fair schedule.
“When you have something like that early, people can decide to wait and go later,” Baron said. “If you have it on the last day, it’s tough because people who would have come decide to stay home.”
Fair organizers have yet to decide whether the 10-day fair itinerary will replace the six-day one in the coming years, Baron said.
The fair’s return, after a year lost to the pandemic, came amid rising COVID-19 delta variant case numbers in Whatcom. The county’s first delta variant case was reported on July 6 by the Washington State Department of Health, and the numbers of confirmed delta variant cases have since jumped to 250, according to a report on Wednesday, Aug. 25. There have been a total of 1,543 COVID-19 cases reported in Whatcom since July 6.
The Whatcom County Health Department was not attributing any change in local COVID-19 case numbers to the fair as of Monday, Aug. 30, but its investigation is ongoing. On Monday, the health department was aware of fewer than 20 infected individuals who attended the fair during their contagious period.
As part of its effort to reduce contact between vendors and customers, the fair rolled out a contactless payment system called BlastPass for concessions. But it didn’t last long — after the first day of the fair, there were technical difficulties, Baron said, and organizers made the decision to allow vendors to accepts both cash and BlastPass credits.
That was a welcome verdict for some vendors, including Freddy McDowell of A Roasted Development, which sells roasted corn and baked potatoes. In an email to The Bellingham Herald, McDowell said that BlastPass was not practical and was poorly advertised and executed. During the dinner rush at 7 p.m. on the fair’s opening day, the line to load credits onto a BlastPass card was 45 minutes long, McDowell said.
An hour later, at 8 p.m., McDowell still had customers approaching the concession stand unaware that cash and card were not accepted. Both customers and vendors were “very frustrated,” McDowell said, and once the fair began allowing cash and card, few attendees chose BlastPass.
“I would be shocked if the fair ever tries something like this again,” McDowell wrote. “With smart phones and mobile options, like Apple Pay, an event can go practically cashless without an outside operation acting as a third party.”
Northwest Washington Fair manager Chris Pickering left in July, before the fair opened. He served as the fair’s assistant manager from early 2019 to May 2020, when he was promoted to CEO. He left the role for reasons Baron would not disclose.
“Chris Pickering left by mutual agreement with the fair board,” Baron said. “It’s a personnel matter, that’s all I can say.”
The Herald left Pickering multiple voicemails, but he did not respond for comment.
Selena Burgess, who has worked with the fair for two years, was named interim manager, and it has yet to be determined if she will permanently step into the role, Baron said.
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
