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Show i, ; , ' " .. , VaM 1 By BRYAN GRAY ' . ' ' B ' ' : V-'. ; '...; . ' Y , 'x t, & ..:;''. -V. . ... y.'-r " ' 'V .. Fair needs known ; entertainment to draw -s the crowd it deserves ; Every year at this time, we hear the same question: "Should the county, continue to fund the Davis County Fair?" And every year at this time, we hear the same soft-core: "Probably" ..."I guess" ..."Why not" ..."Maybe." The county fair is the reason why sleeping pills were invented. The . fate of the Davis County Fair is certainly cer-tainly not a political bandwagon 0 issue. The majority of Davis Coun- , ty residents have never attended the county fair...And, not surprisingly, the vast, vast majority did not attend ) fcftisyeaf.;'-'. s : And that's too bad. Don Sides and his'crew did a masterful job this month in presenting the ' events. Considering the location-plop in the middle of West Farmington's out-of-sight and out-of-mind Dust Bowl-it's surprising that the fair attracted at-tracted as many visitors as it did. The new fair site is known only to horsemen-and gophers! - Sides expected this year's drop in i attendance. In prior years the fair's attendance was boosted by passing motorists who, egged on by their children, dropped by Davis High to : join the commotion. Their parked cars then drew other cars, and the : tents, pony rides and signs for Navajo tacos were visible from the highway. Attendance was great, but no one ever intended to visit the fair. They just ended up mere. - . This year's tfair. lacked this visibility There were no passing motorists in West Farmington where John Deeres outnumber Oldsmobiles by three-to-one. The Children in Davis - County still . thirsted for Sno-Cones. But the , parents weren't willing to drive to a foreign country to buy one. ) And it's not merely the fault of the fair site. Except in rural areas, county fairs don't have the same curiosity-seeking impact In an era of MTV and professional wrestling, it's not surprising that people don't become ecstatic at the chance-to view ajar of grape jelly, v' But should we do away with the -fair? No! Should we tinker with it? (Yes! ' i As a Salt Lake newspaper 'reporter in the late 1960's, I was ' celled to a "momentous" meeting cf Cs Ifch Stcs Fcir board. Due to d:c;?ing fair attendance, a ,j;:l:rr-a sdi, the board was now fc:".:3 i3 energy on big-name ;er.x."ir..'ncnL Instead of traditional clowns and local sawdust-on-the , f.ccr singars, he said, the Utah State Fair was scheduling a variety of well-known country and western acts. In addition, the fair would attempt at-tempt to tease teenagers by featuring featur-ing the Byrds, a fading but still highly-regarded rock 'n roll immortal. immor-tal. . "You're bringing a rock Vroll band to a state fair?' asked a startled reporter. . Vlt's a gamble and a break from tradition," admitted the spokesman. - "But we've got to do something to turn the fair around. We're being ignored by young people." ' . a It was a good decision, and - ironically the Byrds flew in on the release of : their new album-the landmark "Sweethearts of the Rodeo,", which fused rock n roll energy with country standards. Sure, the Byrds played "Mr. Tambourine Tam-bourine Man"-but they also pluck- . ed out the steel guitar and twanged away on "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere." Young people, packed the stands while traditional fair-goers fair-goers perplexedly shock their heads. .Today, big-name entertainment has become a standard format for. state-and many county-fain. Tooele tock the gamble last summer etJ rr..J3 Vgylcn Jennings a town hero v.h;3 aendnce zoomed. Weber County took the j same route last week. While Olym-j pic gymnast Kurt Thomas drew ? only 882 people to the Golden Spike Arena, Singer Gary Morris and Baillie and the Boys drew near ly 3,000-and a rock 'n toll .flashback with Jan and Dean and Johnny Rivers was a similar hit, I Even rural Utah got into the act this month with a Vernal appearance of i ' rising singer Rodney CroweU. . Commissioner Lawrence praised ' the Davis County Fair tradition by i singing a song and hailing the wonderful ; experience a child i.' receives by winning a blue ribbon, f He's right, of course, but the Davis 5 ', County Fair will hever become an 1 'attraction" , unless it starts book- T ing nationally-known entertain- menL The cost is feasible by book- ; , ing an entertainer on an "off week day, and with a radio station tie-in the fair can , receive enormous - amounts of free publicity. , , v ft " : (torratulac'-s to Don Sides and li " his commiaee. They deserved more - :i " sepport . ' . And now let's call Nashville for 1990. Waylon sings a much better ' "Amanda" than Dub Lawrence j ever could. ' . ' ! r; '. ; '" - .l - -'..:, |