Get your dose of Fair fun

The Kitsap County Fair & Stampede is in full swing and if you haven’t made your way down to the Fairgrounds yet, time is running out.

The Fair continues through this weekend, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. today and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. tomorrow. There’s something for everyone, from rides and games to live entertainment and Fair staples including elephant ears, cotton candy, nachos, funnel cakes and more. Tomorrow is Family Day which means a family of four (two adults, two children ages 6-12) can get in for $20.

The event has become a tradition for local residents and each year it goes off without a hitch thanks to the many volunteers who put in countless hours of their time. Many of whom begin planning for next year’s event only days after the Fair ends. Our hats are off to you for making the Fair an enjoyable and fun experience for thousands of families each year. In recognizing the Fair’s continued success in Kitsap County, we thought it would be fun to provide our readers with a few fun facts about our county’s annual extravaganza, courtesy of www.kitsapgov.com:

• The first recorded Kitsap County Fair was in 1923 in Port Orchard, some 15 miles from its present location. It moved to Bremerton, its present location, in 1958.

• In 1929, exhibitors at the Fair totaled 1,000; today there are more than 6,000, with annual attendance of 80,000.

• In 1960, a group of local businessmen formed Chief Kitsap Stampede Inc. to bring rodeo to the Fair. A month later the group bought 40 acres across from what is now Fairgrounds Road and sold stock to build a stadium which could seat 13,000 spectators. Its first event was that August.

• More than 2,000 meals for rodeo cowboys and cowgirls will be served up during the five days of the Fair, according to rodeo hospitality organizer Lori Johnson.

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