Perennial Lane County Fair blue ribbon-winner Margaret Coffey has spent the last few days preparing her new exhibit on beekeeping, entitled, “Good Management Brings Sweet Profit,” for this year’s fair. The exhibit is an introductory experience to beekeeping in which 12 figurines guide a fair visitor through eight miniature floral displays representing the four seasons and what rookie beekeepers can do in each season to get into the business.
Coffey’s beekeeping tour is just one of the hundreds of exhibits featured at the Lane County Fair, which will also include carnival rides, dozens of food booths and stages hosting live music for six nights in a row. The fair starts Tuesday, Aug. 14, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 19, at the Lane County Fairgrounds.
In her 27 years of bringing her beekeeping exhibit to the fair, Coffey said she has won a first-place award in the apiary class of the land products exhibition in Wheeler Pavilion for 26 of those years.
The only year she got second place was because the weather was so hot it melted the honey in her observation hive and made a mess of the exhibit. But Coffey won’t have honey or bees with her this year — just the figurines, the plants and flowers, and her knowledge. Still, she’s hopeful that she’ll receive another top award.
Marquee performers at this year’s fair include Jaci Velasquez, Oak Ridge Boys, Pat Benatar and Wynonna Judd. Exhibits range from photography to beer and wine making. The livestock shows include everything from bulls and heifers to pigeons, pigs and goats.
Carnival rides planned for this year’s fair range from the mildly frightening to the extreme, such as one called “Sling Shot” that catapults two riders in an open-air sphere, suspended only by bungee cords, 200 feet into the air.
Fair hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8 for those older than 16, $6 for those 6 to 15 and free for children ages 5 and younger. Reserve concert tickets are $12.50, not including the cost of fair admission, but tickets for bleacher and festival seating for the concerts are free.
Last year, the fair set a record level of attendance with 180,000 people bringing in more than $555,000. Jane Holloway, the co-marketing manager of the fair, said the fair makes enough profit that it does not need a subsidy from the state, even with its packed schedule of more than 450 events.
Unlike fairs in other parts of the state, Lane County’s takes place in the heart of the city. David Hinkley, the chairman of the neighborhood association that encompasses the fairgrounds, said there are usually few problems, but at times people park illegally, litter and are loud.
But Hinkley said Fairgrounds Director Mike Gleason takes effective steps to lessen the fair’s impact on the neighborhood.
“The fairgrounds is being very considerate,” Hinkley said. “Those of us who are aware of it are not without our appreciation.”
He said during the shows, the event staff have control over the amplifiers so that decibel levels can be turned down if the neighbors complain, and fair workers place trash containers in the neighborhoods so that trash won’t accumulate in the street.
Although parking at the fairgrounds is free, fair organizers pay the Lane Transit District $27,000 for the week so that all rides anywhere in the city cost only 25 cents and special shuttles run every 15 to 20 minutes from the LTD Eugene Station, Valley River Center and South Eugene High School.