This morning at our editorial meeting, my colleague Naomi Tomky told us about her family's trip to the fair over the weekend. They had a great time. But an expensive one. Which reminded me of this story originally published in 2023.  Even these prices from two years ago now feel like a thing of the distant past. (Parking, for example, is now $22 on weekends.)

A few years back, somebody asked me if I was a “fair person.” At first, I didn’t really know what the question meant. Fair in what sense? Then I realized they weren’t talking about fairness as a concept, but the fair as a place. Maybe that initial hesitation was my answer. I didn’t grow up going to the fair. But then I thought about it for a second. I do know some fair people. In fact, I am married to one. Does that mean I’ve become one too?

After all, the good stuff about the Puyallup—ahem—Washington State Fair, is so good. This is especially true on a weekday when you can park your car stress free and wander among the animals and hot tubs and carnival games at will; it’s especially true in twilight when it feels like you’ve gone back in time and the lights from the rides start turning on and the weather cools down and the smells all somehow change at once.

But for a place built on the promise of nostalgia and wholesome family fun, the fair has a problem: It’s just way too expensive. And lately for me that has ruined the vibe. A weekend Dizzy Pass for unlimited rides costs at least $60 per person—that’s in addition to your entry ticket. And it doesn’t even include Extreme Scream (that costs another 30 tickets, or about $18). Want to buy individual ride tickets? It’ll cost the equivalent of $30 for a family of four to spend just a couple minutes on a single roller coaster. (Or much longer if you happen to get stuck.)

The whole system is needlessly pricey and needlessly stressful. You can literally buy an advance season pass to Wild Waves for the same price as that single Dizzy Pass. But it’s not just the rides. Parking will run you at least $15. The food prices make Mariners and Seahawks games look like a steal: $16 for a funnel cake, $9.75 for a Krusty Pup.

The fair has an atmosphere no other place can match. At its best it feels like a democratic place where all kinds of people can come together to enjoy themselves and appreciate the stuff we have in common: love for absurd, greasy snacks, appreciation of funny T-shirts, simple thrills, and an inevitable performance from Chicago or the Beach Boys. 

I don’t want to feel annoyed because I’m blowing past my entire budget on rides and junk food, both of which will probably give me a stomachache. Instead, I want to enjoy getting that stomachache. Then I want to look at some incredibly huge pumpkins and see the talented little kids showing off the animals they’re raising and sit in the grandstand for the Fiestas Patrias dances. I want to be taken in by a sales demonstration and blow my budget on some weird kitchen gizmo I’ll only use one time.

That gizmo will probably be overpriced too. But that’s okay. There’s always one thing that isn’t. Am I a fair person? I don’t know. But a $3 Fisher scone suddenly sounds really good right now.