NYS Fair: 6 things that never change … and we like it that way (Editorial Board Opinion)

The New York State Fair opens Wednesday for its 13-day run looking a whole lot different than it did 10 years ago.

The fairgrounds are transformed by a stately gate, landscaped avenues, a chairlift, an arena, a spruced-up midway and Restaurant Row, a campground and an outdoor concert venue that can jam in 50,000 fans. If that doesn’t set your head spinning, add a two-year pandemic and a carousel of three different directors in three years.

Yet for all that is different, the fair is always the same. That’s the genius of Central New York’s annual end-of-summer bash.

While fairs have always promised to dazzle us with the new, the trendy, the silly and the weird, what keeps generations of fairgoers coming back are the traditional, the favorite, the reliable and the eternal.

Today, we tip our cap to six things burrowed into the bedrock of the fair experience. It wouldn’t be the fair without them.

1. Oh, the humanity!

The fair is Central New York’s biggest, most colorful gathering spot. People of all ethnicities, ages, abilities, interests, tastes, body art and manner of dress (or undress) converge on the Geddes fairgrounds. For two weeks, it’s the people-watching capital of the world.

Bonus: If you’re from here, you will know some of those people. OK, you will know many of those people. That makes it even more fun.

2. Corollary: Come as you are.

For the most part, the fair is a live-and-let-live zone. Dress up in your finest linen. Dress down in your Daisy Dukes. Hold hands with your sweetie, straight or gay. Put your toddler on a leash. Roam the midway in a pack of teens. As long as you’re not smoking or being lewd, you do you — and allow others to do the same.

3. That fair smell.

Start with a base layer of fryer oil, add a dash of Italian sausage and peppers on the grill, sprinkle in some body spray, sweat, sunscreen, bus exhaust, spilled beer, animals, road apples and cow flop. Voila! The sweet perfume of a day at the fair.

4. Tending the flame of our farming past.

The fair’s beating heart is a celebration of New York agriculture, linking the people who produce our food with the people who think it comes from the grocery store. And what more American way to celebrate than to make it a competition? Behold the best in amateur wine, honey, cheese, forage and grain, show and draft horses, beef and dairy cattle, goats, llama, sheep, swine, poultry, rabbits, tractors, arts and crafts, barbecue and pies, flowers and plants, photos and poems, and even sculptures made from a bucket of junk. Our enthusiasms are as diverse as we are, and they’re all here.

5. Free music — and lots of it.

Since the demise of the grandstand, the top-tier shows have moved to the Empower Amphitheater at Lakeview across the highway from the fairgrounds (don’t get us started about the traffic). But Chevy Court near the main gate and Suburban Park on the fair’s back forty offer music of every genre, era and taste. Where else can you see Flo Rida, Blue Oyster Cult, TLC, Chubby Checker and Kidz Bop all in one place — and all included in the price of admission?

6. Weird and wonderful traditions.

The butter sculpture. Milk for a quarter. Dollar baked potatoes. Wine slushies. Flying chairs. Fortune tellers. Wildlife demonstrations. Barns. As-seen-on-TV kitchen gadgets. Fried dough. Food on a stick. Everyone has their must-see, must-do or must-eat, and the people they must do it with.

Go ahead, go to the fair for the familiar. But don’t be afraid to make a new tradition, try a new food, see a new artist or ride a new ride. And if you haven’t been in a while, give it a shot this year. You just might like the changes.

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