For years, the Santa Clara County Fair has been struggling, trying to redefine itself in an era where agriculture has given way to high tech. But maybe that’s the problem: it’s trying too hard to be “relevant” to the new urban lifestyle.
That’s not what county fairs are about. County fairs give us a chance to connect with our roots, even though we no longer live a rural lifestyle. You don’t go to the fair to connect with technology and the shopping mall mentality. You go to see animals, and watch demonstrations of kitchen gadgets, to find connection with groups like the local Master Gardeners or the Embroiderers Guild. The best parts of the county fair are the things that put you in touch with another world.
This time, it billed itself as a “Youth Fair,” and the kids from the 4H clubs exhibited rabbits and chickens, the local weaving group showed how to work with fiber, and leatherworkers let the kids try their hand at tooling leather. I understand the need to keep the kids involved, but the whole enterprise struck me as too little, too late.
Rather like the way that the Las Vegas Treasure Island Hotel and Casino decided pirates were a kid thing, and reworked itself into “TI” and the show “The Sirens of TI,” only to miss the boat that adults were finding pirates totally cool again, the Santa Clara County Fair doesn’t get that gardens and backyard livestock is fashionable again. People are canning. A whole new generation is learning to knit and crochet. People are hungry to reconnect with the lifestyles of an America not part of the consumer culture.
I see that at Highland Games. The Scottish livestock areas are always packed with people, and they inquire about Highland cattle, and check out the herding dogs. Maybe that’s part of the appeal of Renaissance Fairs, seeing people showing off lifestyles that are no longer our own, finding out the rich traditions formerly ours. Accessibility is what the County Fair should be about. You can find out that you, too, can be a part of modern America and still do some of the hands-on activities that our grandparents and great-grandparents engaged in.
And it’s one thing to connect through Farmville, but another to actually connect to the farm.
Jilara's Wanderings 