State Fair going smoke free — this time for good

WASILLA — There’s no smoking at the Alaska State Fair.

The fair announced its new smoke-free policy in a press release issued May 2. The policy will take effect during this year’s fair, which is scheduled for August 25 through September 5 at the fairgrounds in Palmer.

The decision comes on the heels of a decision to go smoke free for one day during the 2015 event.

Fair general manager Jerome Hertel said in the release that the decision was about the health and safety of fairgoers.

“It’s not about the right to smoke but about the right to not have to breathe second-hand smoke. Smoking is an active choice. Breathing second-hand smoke is not,” Hertel said.

The decision was supported by a number of local groups, including Breathe Free Mat-Su, the American Lung Association in Alaska, Set Free Alaska, and the American Heart Association.

Mat-Su Health Foundation executive director Elizabeth Ripley applauded the decision.

“Smoke-free environments do more than protect the health of everyone who experiences them — they also change social norms about smoking, which leads to improved health for all,” Ripley said.

Smoking will be prohibited during the fair inside the fenced-in area of the fairgrounds. Smoking will also be prohibited within 40 feet of the main gated entrances to the fair. The policy applies to all tobacco products as well as electronic smoking devices (or “vapes”) and prohibits “carrying, holding, inhaling or exhaling the smoke of a lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, plant material, or of any other lighted or heated smoking equipment, including e-cigarettes that create a vapor or any other oral smoking device.”

Hertel said he thinks the move is a step in the right direction for the fair.

“With this policy, we are asking fairgoers who choose to smoke to do it far enough way from those who choose not to smoke,” he said. “The smoke-free policy clarifies what that distance should be.”

For more information about the new policy, visit the fair’s website at alaskastatefair.org or contact fair marketing and communications director Dean Phipps at dean@alaskastatefair.org or 746-7153.