Changes made to prevent traffic jams

GRANT COUNTY - Cars crunched across gravel driving into the Red parking lot on Thursday morning.

Most of the people driving slow down to hand off their $2 to the attendants, or get waved through if they have a pass hanging off their rear view mirror. The fair started charging $2 each time a person parks or $5 for a weeklong pass, after not charging in previous years.

Fairgrounds Manager Bill West said the change was made to avoid having people park two or three deep, blocking in people who needed to get out.

To remedy the situation from last year, the fair hired the Moses Lake Drill Team Booster Club to handle the parking situation. The club receives $10,000 for their services during the week of the fair, according to county records.

The money will go to sports programs for the high school, attendants said.

"We didn't do it for a few years and we had major problems," said Laura Cobb, a fair board member. "So we had to have somebody handle the parking and we had to pay them … (The attendants) are getting a large percent."

Leon Brunette said the change was fine with him.

"If they need the money, then they have to do it," he said.

The sentiment was echoed by Jonathan Smith.

"I think that in other areas we've seen prices go up," he said. "I didn't see it as a deterrent. They've got to do upkeep and it's either this or raise ticket prices."

There isn't anyone who's exempt from the parking charge, both members at the Boys & Girls Club and the Ephrata Lions club booths had to pick up parking permits.

"I want to know where the money's going," Davie Cody, an attendant at the Lions Club booth, said. "That's what irritates me. In the past, it went to the high school."

Cobb said most people took the change well and it hasn't hurt fair attendance. They're still working out the system. She said they had traffic jams on Wednesday night.

"We're working to get the flow (of traffic) right," she said. "Right now, we're trying to avoid what happened last night."

The parking lot entrance and exit have changed since the beginning of the week with the entrance and exit now at different ends of the parking lot.

"I don't have any problems (with paying for parking," said Kelly Hansen, an attendant at the Boys & Girls club booth. "But I think it's confusing with all of those ropes."