All about the Alaska State Fair

It’s all about the Alaska State Fair this week. (Please note that Hatcher Pass is magnificent right now and berry picking is still marvelous, and yes school is back in session, but the Alaska State Fair is the King.) It is a fantastic fair this year. People seem happier and I question why that is. Some say it’s because we haven’t had a rainy summer. Some say it’s because we have finished road construction. Some say it’s because there is more and more global recovery from the time of the pandemic. (It turns out that the fallout from the pandemic has been far more reaching than anyone suspected.) Regardless of the reason, people seem happier at the fair (and the grocery and in line at the post office.)

Traffic—No one should be surprised by the amount of traffic at the fair. Carpooling, walking, biking, and public transportation would really help but that takes some planning. Plus traffic isn’t bad when the weather is crummy. It’s hard to set up a system that can reduce the traffic. If you want little to no traffic, wait for a rainy day. But don’t be shocked when it’s a weekend and sunny 74 degrees. It’s perfect fair weather we all dream about. Leave earlier and leave the stress at home. Recognize there will be traffic and it’s ok.

Da Vinci The Exhibition—The Da Vinci Exhibition is at the Don Sheldon Events Center at the Alaska State Fair. It is simply incredible. It has dozens of wooden life size inventions, fully constructed, along with Leonardo Da Vinci’s illustrated engineering diagrams. The subject areas include military weapons, blockades, science, math, physics, nature, flight and urban planning. Displayed are his early and innovative designs for a helicopter, tank, scuba tank, clock, submarine, crane, and portable wartime ladders. Some of these are models and you are allowed to touch them and see how they work.

And the DaVinci art! Oh this portion of the exhibit was wondrous. This was worth the entire price of admission at the fair. It is an elegant art corridor with good replicas and studies of the Mona Lisa, Vitruvian Man, The Last Supper, Golden Ratio and other DaVinci paintings and sculptures.

Leonardo DaVinci was born poor but brilliant. He had a brain that never stopped and the story goes that he would immerse himself in concentrated study of anything, totally submerge in it and then suddenly change his entire focus. This shows up in his poetry, his drawings, his models, his paintings, his papers, his philosophic writings, his engineering diagrams, his Codices (also know as notebooks) He would chronicle his ideas and inventions with detailed note-taking, where he would preserve and protect his ideas by a secret writing method. This man was a free thinker in every sense of the word. And you can feel it as you wander through the Events Center. This whole exhibition surpasses any offered before by the State Fair. It is a huge upgrade and one should not miss it. Huge thanks to the Tote and Lynden Transport for bringing this entire show to Alaska.

Farm & Garden Day—Saturday was jam packed with information about irrigation systems, food forest, food security, growing mushrooms, goat milking, micro homesteading and a bit of cow milking. The livestock farm was full of dedicated future farmers and 4 H kids and their animals. And midweek the competitive animals and flowers arrive.

Weekend Wonder—There were cheer squads and dancers, tall people on stilts, beautiful horses, tons of people, good concerts, and favorite fair foods. You see folks you never see, except at the fair and it is all good. Sunday was equally wonderful. Now that the weekdays are here, you can expect less traffic, but if the sun is out, be prepared for crowds.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff on the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Email bhunt@mtaonline.net or text at 907.315.3222