History

In 1902 some cattle ranchers had purchased some land in hopes of putting on a livestock show. The livestock

Livestock

Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...

 show was dubbed the name the Eastern Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

.

When financial hardships hit the fair in 1918, the fair had to discontinue. The fair then reopened in 1920. The state legislators

Idaho Legislature

The Idaho Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Idaho. It consists of the upper Idaho Senate and the lower Idaho House of Representatives. The Idaho Senate contains 35 Senators, who are elected from 35 districts...

 passed a Fair District Bill in 1925. The fair started out as a district fair with livestock and entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

. After a meeting against the Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 State Fair, the officials decided to change the name Eastern Idaho Fair to the Eastern Idaho State Fair.

The fair was shut down in July 1942, letting individuals force their attention to the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 at the time. The buildings at the fair were used for a storage surplus in the time of war. On December 10, a fire destroyed the commercial buildings consuming potatoes and coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

.

In 1942, the Eastern Idaho State Fair would be home to some 500 Italian prisoners. The prisoners dug sugar beets and potatoes, during their stay in southeast Idaho. Operations have continued since 1944.
The Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 of Fort Hall

Fort Hall

Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...

 have also impacted the Eastern Idaho State Fair in a large and popular way. The Indian Relay Race have been a popular event throughout the fairs history. The danger and intensity of the race brings fans to the grandstands where the fair is held each year.

The State fair has always showcased agriculture throughout its history. People are allowed to show off their produce

Produce

Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...

 and livestock to the public if they wish to do so.

Opening day

One of the events to kick off the opening of the fair is the traditional parade

Parade

A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...

 held in Blackfoot

Blackfoot, Idaho

Blackfoot is a city in Bingham County, Idaho, United States. The population was 10,419 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Bingham County. Blackfoot is self-designated the "Potato Capital of the World", because it claims to have the largest potato industry in the world...

. This parade starts at the south end of Shilling Avenue and makes its way to the north end. The parade includes many clubs and organizations of the community. Local high schools, police department, fire department, businesses, dance teams and many more participate in the line of the parade. Starting out the parade is an escort by the police department and fire department, honking their horns and sounding the sirens. With the local high schools, the cheerleading squads, student council, Junior Miss winners, dance team and some clubs even have their own floats. The people on these floats cheer, throw candy, anything to just get the crowd excited for the fair. Businesses around town are in the parade with music, candy, and brochures telling the community what their business has to offer the public. The dance teams not only advertise their team, but they also entertain the crowd by doing a dance while walking down the road at the same time. Once the parade is over, most people head off to the fair to get some food and see what the fair has to offer.

Attractions

One of the reasons why many people like to go to the fair is because of the food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

. There are many different types of food that come to the fair. Some of these foods are Chinese, Mexican, American, and Indian food. Some of the most popular foods at the fair are the teriyaki bowls, tiger ears

Fried dough

.Fried dough is a North American food associated with outdoor food stands in carnivals, amusement parks, fairs, rodeos, and seaside resorts . Fried dough is the specific name for a particular variety of fried bread made of a yeast dough; see the accompanying images for an example of use on...

, scone nuggets, turkey legs, mammoth burgers, funnel cakes, curly fries, ice cream, and the Dutch oven cooking.

Depending on where a person is at in the fair will determine on what kind of event they will witness at the fair. If a person is inside the grandstands they can witness many events throughout the week. During the day, Tuesday through Saturday you can find the horse races in action. There are many heats of these races that go on all day until about 4 p.m.

After every few heats, the Indian relays come in action where most of the attention is drawn. The reason the Indian relays attract so much attention is the way it is put together. The Native tribes have three horses each they then take three laps around the track. However, in order to use every horse each tribe has to do a switch after taking one lap. The action is intense because the man on the horse does not wait until the horse is at a dead halt. The participants in the race actually jump off the horse while horse is slowing down and then run and jump on the next horse. Many times they do fail and get far behind the other teams. There are oftentimes when the horse they jump off of can’t slow down and just tramples the rider. The horse races bring a lot of attention to the fair because many people participate in the gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 going on during the race. If one chooses to bet on a race, they would pick in order from first to last who they think will win the race. One can also just only bet for two horses or just a winner. The horse races are a big attraction.

During the night, however, action is also taking place. Every night of the fair there is a different event going on. Some of these events include: motocross

Motocross

Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...

, bull riding

Bull riding

Bull riding refers to rodeo sports that involve a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal attempts to buck off the rider....

, rodeo

Rodeo

Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

, tractor pulls, concerts, and the demolition derby

Demolition derby

Demolition derby is a motorsport usually presented at county fairs and festivals. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their vehicles into one another...

. Each event brings in a lot of people. All events are fairly similar each year. The concerts, however, change every year with different genres and totally different performers.

At the fair, there are two other small stages where smaller events take place. These events are things such as: hypnotists, arm wrestling contests, Idaho Idol, local dance teams, singing, and also comedy shows. There are also things surrounding the stage like a petting zoo

Petting zoo

A petting zoo features a combination of domestic animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. In addition to independent petting zoos, also called children's farms or petting farms, many general zoos contain a petting zoo...

, camp trailers, and a reptile show.

There are many rides that come to the Idaho State Fair too. These rides vary from children rides to adult rides. Some of the favorites that always come to the fair are the Zipper, Fun Slide, House of Mirrors, and the trucks that go around and around on a track. If the fair board keeps with the same carnival company the rides will be similar than the year before. Even though new rides might not come, people are always buying tickets and wristbands to ride the rides and play the games.
At the fair, there are many different kinds of animals that include: dairy and beef cattle

Beef cattle

Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production . The meat of cattle is known as beef. When raised in a feedlot cattle are known as feeder cattle. Many such feeder cattle are born in cow-calf operations specifically designed to produce beef calves...

, different types and breeds of horses, sheep, pigs

PIGS

PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...

, goats, chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

, rabbits, and ostrich

Ostrich

The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...

es. The public is allowed to show case their livestock in the 4-h program. Now with the new addition of reptiles, people can see snakes, turtles and many other reptiles. The state fair also has many types of dogs too. A dog show

Conformation show

Conformation shows, also referred to as breed shows, are a kind of dog show in which a judge familiar with a specific dog breed evaluates individual purebred dogs for how well the dogs conform to the established breed type for their breed, as described in a breed's individual breed standard.A...

 is held one day of the week to showcase the beautiful clean dogs.

There are many buildings on the fair grounds that are filled with many different things. The big buildings can range from agricultural information, advertising of hot tubs, trailers, fireplaces, siding for houses, and many any other things. In the smaller buildings may contain craft items. One building holds many blankets, handmade clothes, and other stitching people have done. Another, often visited building is the photography building. This has walls of photos taken by many different people. The pictures that are posted range from many different things such as: animals, nature, scenery, children, weddings, families, senior pictures, and many other things.

Time-frame

In 1925, the fair ran for four days. Today, the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot, Idaho

Blackfoot, Idaho

Blackfoot is a city in Bingham County, Idaho, United States. The population was 10,419 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Bingham County. Blackfoot is self-designated the "Potato Capital of the World", because it claims to have the largest potato industry in the world...

lasts eight days. In 2002, the fair saw an attendance of over 30,000 people. The gates to the fairgrounds open on Labor Day weekend, first week in September, at 8 AM closing at 10 PM every day the fair is going.

External links

• Eastern Idaho State Fair - official site