Where North Idaho gathers — This is our fair

There is a moment every August when I know we're finally there.

The barns are full. The midway is humming. Somewhere a steer is being washed, an exhibitor is checking to see if a ribbon is hanging beside the photograph they entered, and a train car full of kids passes by, their laughter carrying with them.

The Best 10 Days of Summer have arrived.

For more than a year, my team and I have been creating and fitting together hundreds of puzzle pieces alongside our Fair Board, volunteers, superintendents, vendors, exhibitors, sponsors and community partners. But once the gates open, the fair no longer belongs to those of us building it. It belongs to North Idaho.

If you've wondered what I've been trying to describe in this column all year, stand at the fairgrounds on an August Fair evening.

You can smell the elephant ears frying at the Old Timers Gang booth and probably convince yourself there's still room for a corn dog from the Knights of Columbus. Follow the crowd and sooner or later you'll find the cheese curds from Philly Express — one of the biggest-selling foods on the grounds, and for good reason.

Listen, and you'll hear local musicians playing Music on the Midway, carnival rides in the distance and kids laughing as the train makes another trip around the grounds. In the barns, animals settle into their pens while exhibitors talk with visitors about projects they've spent months preparing.

Then wander through the exhibit buildings and slow down. Look at the ribbons hanging beside flowers carefully grown, cakes baked, photographs captured, quilts stitched, vegetables tended, art created and woodworking projects built by people in our community. Last year, more than 9,000 entries found their way to the fair, each carrying a story that began long before it arrived.

Maybe you'll think about the photograph you took this year that you're especially proud of. Or the cookies everyone asks you to bring. The flowers you grow, the woodworking project in your garage, or the jar of jam made from a family recipe. Now is the time to enter it.

County fairs were built for exactly that. Long before concerts, carnival rides and bright midway lights, fairs gave communities a place to bring forward what they had grown, raised, made and accomplished. In a year when our country celebrates 250 years, I can't help but appreciate that we're still doing it.

Of course, the fair has evolved. This year, motocross returns after many years away. The Gem State Stampede will fill the grandstands, concerts will bring thousands together, world-class acts will entertain families, and the midway will glow late into summer nights.

Beneath all of that, the heart of a county fair hasn't changed much. It is still people showing up. A 4-H kid walking out of the show ring a little taller than when they walked in. A grandparent bringing a grandchild through the barns. Friends meeting for fair food. A family cheering from the grandstands. A volunteer working another shift for an organization they believe in. Someone spotting an old friend in the crowd and stopping for a hug.

A few days into the fair, when the frantic pace of opening weekend has settled just enough, I find a place near the edge of it all and sit for a few minutes.

I watch families laugh together. I see young couples walking hand in hand and couples who have likely been doing the same thing for decades. Kids race toward the next adventure while parents try to keep up. Old friends recognize one another in a crowd and greet with a hug.

For a few minutes, I watch North Idaho gather. That's the part I love most.

The North Idaho State Fair has changed since these grounds became its home in the 1950s, and the community around it has changed too. But generations before us gathered on this same ground, and generations we haven't met yet will make their own memories here.

For 10 days each August, we get to stand somewhere in the middle of all that history.

Soon the barns will be full, the ribbons will hang, the grandstands will roar and the midway lights will come on again. Thousands of individual stories will make their way through these gates, just as they have for generations.

And somewhere along the edge of all that fun, I'll find my spot for a few minutes and watch.

Families laughing. Friends reconnecting. Kids making memories they may someday bring their own children back to recreate.

The puzzle pieces we have spent so long putting together will finally belong to them. And for 10 days, this ground will once again become exactly what it was meant to be.

The place where North Idaho gathers.

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Alexcia Jordan is CFE, general manager and CEO of the North Idaho State Fair.