Entertainers performing during Covid 2020

Since each of the Counties and States had different restrictions for the entertainers this is what we saw as we traveled to each event in the summer of 2020. I thought they all handled it really well for each of their shows.

Twin Falls, ID (No Mask Mandate) Michael Mezmer, the hypnotist, gave all of his volunteers gloves for his hypnosis show. He had gloves on as well, and he spread out all of the volunteer chairs in several rows on the stage instead of one long row which is a more typical show set-up.

The Magic Bean show magician had the kids virtually assist him from their seats, they used their imaginations and he called on them to make their predictions or help with the magic.


Wyoming State Fair (No mask mandate) Slim and Curly just strolled like normal on their little legger horses. They walked around greeting people and having conversations all over the fair, they did selfies and photos as well.

Lanky the Clown also strolled, chatted with families, and made balloon animals for the families, they had fun coming to talk to him all day long.

Roberto the Magnificent, juggled and was really far from the people on his stage as he performed, and he didn't use any volunteers.

Michael Mezmer performed a magic show DangerMagik on the main stage and he had several volunteers come up to assist.

The K9 people had the dogs and were distanced from the crowd to make room for the dogs performing.



Sublette County Fair, WY (No mask mandate) Lanky did face, arm, and leg paintings, he did use a face shield for a little while but it was not required in their county.

The Strong man let all the kids and adults come up to the stage, he performed strong feats as well as allowing the children to come up on the stage to help him perform. He also had a fair manager up for one pat of the show as well.

Shad Peterson was social distanced by default, he brought play with gravity and was on his motorcycle riding on the platforms he designed, he had a helmet and used a mic on his suit, so he was never in contact with the crowd.



Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch, CA (Masks were required) Brian Bon's Powerhouse and his dancers wore masks off stage. He wore one the whole time as the MC as well. And they had the kids dance in the audience instead of on the stage as they did previously.

Max the Cowboy used whips in his show so it was social distanced by default.

Arty Loon had a mask during his whole show, when the kids won a prize from the audience he gave a prize bag to them with a long grabber tool. It was fun to watch them run up to the edge of the stage to earn that prize.



Utah State Fair (Masks required) Marcus Wilson was distanced because Utah spread out all the tables. He had one volunteer toss a ball to him to juggle from the audience, but we were all required to wear masks. He did not way up there far from us. As soon as the show was over he put it on to talk to us off stage.



Mesa, AZ (Masks preferred) James Reid did juggling on this 6 foot stage, he didn't need volunteers, it was actually a stage for theatre, outdoors.

Every stage mentioned was outdoors at each event except the Magic Bean Show, that was indoors, but by huge bay door that was open and letting air through the building as it was open on the opposite end as well. We spread out ourselves on the chairs leaving spaces between us to self-distance.



Wyoming State Fair, Utah State Fair, and Elmore County Fair, ID The concerts had no masks on the performers. However, I think it would have been hard to hear them sing and perform and the stages were far from the seating anyway so the distance was not an issue.

I felt like the fairs did a really good job keeping the stages away from us and still close enough to hear and enjoy the shows, I don’t think anyone had a hard time hearing anyone performing and the benches and seats were self-distanced as well, though each event also put up signs reminding us to stay 6 feet apart.



I think the Utah State and Wyoming State Fair were the two closest to “Normal” as I got all summer long, it was wonderful to be in the sounds and sights of the fair and families and the smells of the delicious food again. It was a nice break from being home.

Fairs attended during COVID 2020

 

I understand there are different regulations that are coming from a lot of resources about the covid pandemic and we all are doing our best to find a healthy way to get life back to normal. I also recognize that different counties and states have different rules and regulations, so this is a compilation of four of the fairs I attended in the summer of 2020 and how they handled this new challenge.

Elmore County didn’t have all of the restrictions that many other counties faced so they were open for a fair, with one building for their arts and crafts. Their staff did not wear masks but they had two signs on their grounds asking people to social distance themselves. There was no mask mandate although we did wear them, no one else had them on. As a result we did not buy any products or food. There was one food seating area, and quite a few people ate under the shade, it felt like families sitting in groups together like a Sunday potluck. It was nice to see, just not socially distanced. They did have a full restroom open to the guests and hand sanitizer at one area in the arts building. The carnival was not able to come, so there were no rides or games at the fair. They did have an evening outdoor concert and had stadium benches to use at the guests discretion, in this case they all sat together side by side.

Sublette didn’t have the restrictions through their county for masks either. They had a lot more signs recommending people to social distance and wash hands after visiting the animal barns and the food areas, they had tables set up where people could sit together, and they had less vendors in order to spread them out for social distancing. Inside the arts and crafts building there was also hand sanitizer.

They had a huge gathering for cornhole games, and dozens and dozens of people played side by side, No masks, again with no county mandate, people felt comfortable playing together without major concern. Brian and I were two of the six people that wore them on the day we visited. They had a couple of shows for the guests, but no carnival rides. Since the vendors and food vendors had no masks, we opted not to eat, but there were a lot of families enjoying the food just the same. 

The Wyoming State fair had a lot of really good signage and they had requested social distancing. They spread out their tables for eating and the vendors were set-up down the main stretch of the fair. WSF had shows, concerts and strolling acts as well, it felt more like a normal fair with the carnival and all of the sounds of the kids playing and families talking, the masks were not a requirement. We did see about a dozen of them as we walked around. Families just had fun being at the fair again. They offered hand sanitizer in several locations and we wore our masks without people looking and staring. Again we opted out of buying food or products since we still didn’t know much about how covid spread yet and the vendors had no masks on so we waited on that as well.   ( We actually had burgers cooked really well – aka DEAD – at the WSF 😊 )

The Utah State Fair in my opinion did it the best with their policies. They had a mask mandate for all guests - and all vendors - and went a step further to have regular announcements reminding people to wear them at all times unless in the designated eating and smoking locations. The vendors went through the vendor entrance and they had to sign a waiver that said they didn’t show any signs of covid and what company they were with, it was the only contact tracing I’d seen publically and I really appreciated their efficiency.

In the designated eating areas they had the tables far from each other so that we could eat and with safety and the food vendors had mask requirement so we purchased food, delicious! And since the vendors were also wearing masks we purchased a few gifts to bring home or the holidays. We appreciated that safety measures and told them as much verbally. They had several buildings shut down to monitor their traffic flow and I am sure that many exhibits that they would have had were not offered in competition just to limit the amount of foot traffic. They even went as far as having the animal auctions on video in one building and socially distanced the buyers in a separate building watching on a huge screen. That allowed everyone the space they needed to auction safely.

I loved that their carnival workers had masks and gloves and they wiped down the rides after each guest, it took a little longer but that didn’t seem to dissuade anyone in the lines waiting to ride, though I didn’t ask individually I know it would have made me feel quite comfortable to ride.

They had shows socially distanced and a bull riding machine. They offered hand washing stations with soap and paper towels at every intersection of the fair and hand sanitizer in the rest of the buildings for arts and crafts, food vendors offered hand sanitizer and napkins, and they had full restrooms open to the public.

The Utah and Wyoming state fair both had the largest fairgrounds so it was very easy to social distance if anyone felt like being a little bit alone to eat or rest in the grass or benches to watch the day go by, the smaller county fairs didn’t have this option.

The fairs can go on safely, I saw it all summer long, and so many families showed up and everyone complied to the requirements that each fair put in place, I didn’t see anyone complaining about the need for a mask and no one gawked at our decision to wear them when they were not required. We chose to bring in our own hand sanitizer and had a delightful time watching the shows, listening to live music and seeing many of our fair friends again.

I hope that other fairs will be able to adopt these measures and start to open up again in 2021, we need the sunshine and the grass, and to see the animals and hear the laughter and songs. It is a part of who we are and should get back to being again in this New Year.