By Abigail Martin
Special to The Collegian
The 85th annual Caruthers District Fair opens today, offering free admission for all to enjoy home-cooked meals, livestock shows, carnival rides and much more.
Fresno State alumnus and president of the fairboard Gary Wenter said the Caruthers District Fair is the largest and longest-running free gate fair in California. He estimates that more than 60,000 people walk through the fair gates every year.
“You get the same people coming back every day. It’s kind of like old home week, like a family reunion or a high school reunion of sorts,” Wenter said.
Fair webmaster and publicity director Sheila Hunter said she estimates closer to 100,000 attendees every year. Even with the large number of people attending, Hunter said the fair is self-funded.
“We are not state-funded, you know, like the Fresno Fair and some of those fairs — they receive money from the state,” Hunter said.
“The only money we have is the money that we get from our percentage from the food booths, from charging the vendors to use the booths. The races give us a percentage from that.”
Hunter said every year girls run for the title of Caruthers District Fair Queen. The girls must take on the challenge of selling as many raffle tickets as possible for a brand new car to cover the fair’s expenses. The girls receive 25 percent of the profit, and the one who sells the most tickets is crowned fair queen, Hunter said.
Wenter and Hunter said they’re both volunteers, along with most others who coordinate the fair every year.
“There are 20 members of the fair board, and nobody receives a paycheck. It’s just one of those things you do in a small town,” Wenter said. “During the fair, it seems like everybody kind of lives down there. There are pretty long days, but it’s fun. We’ve got something unique, and we’d like to see the traditions continue.”
Hunter said some of those traditions include livestock shows, carnival games and rides, live music and motorcycle and go-kart races. Although most fair attractions are free, the racing events charge an admission fee.
“We have a horticulture and floriculture building, so we have all of those kinds of exhibits,” Hunter said. “And in the horticulture building, there’s a competition between local schools. They do these murals on the walls that are formed from beans and all natural products. They turn out to be quite beautiful.”
Wenter said a special fair tradition is the home-cooked food sold by nonprofit groups such as churches, schools and youth groups.
“These are the principle fundraisers they do each year,” Wenter said. “You get some really good home cooking and for a fair price — that’s something that other fairs don’t have.
“Usually fairs are known for some kind of fried food on a stick, which is great. I mean, I love all that stuff, but this is a little different, and I don’t know that you see that elsewhere.”
For Wenter, the livestock exhibit is the essence of the fair. Hunter said the junior livestock competition has more than 200 entrants each year from Central Valley high schools. Some of the show animals include cows, pigs and sheep.
Sophomore criminology student Miguel Ferrer said he’s visited the fair every year since he was 8.
“I think one of the cool things is all the animals that are shown, because they show pictures of like the baby calves, the baby pigs, and then they have them there grown up, ready to sell,” Ferrer said. “I go there cause it’s fun, the food’s great, the rides are pretty good.”
Wenter said he takes a simple approach in offering good entertainment at the fair.
“We’re not real fancy about anything. It’s not high-dollar entertainment all the time,” Wenter said. “It’s just a slice of Americana, like it used to be, and I think it still is.”
The fair runs through Saturday and will conclude with a free performance by the MoFo Party Band.