Launched in 1868 in Esther Short Park, the Clark County Fair has always been the place for country and city residents to proudly display animals, talents, and crafts. It also has become a vital marketplace for hundreds of mom-and-pop, mostly local businesses that have little money to invest in marketing. For as little as $890 to purchase a booth during the fair’s 10-day run, which ended a week ago, small businesses can put their products and services in front of thousands of fairgoers.
Throngs of visitors show up at the Ridgefield fairgrounds for the thrill rides, demolition derby, dog shows, concerts and award-winning livestock. But some of them leave with the latest kitchen gadgets or the realization that they need to get their chimney cleaned, invest for retirement, or replace that sagging mattress.
Each year brings a new hot product, and this was “the year of the bed vendor,” says Chris Huggett, the fair’s event coordinator. Beds are, he says, an ideal product to market at the fair: vendors can reach people who might need their products, but haven’t gone to the effort of making a trip to the mattress store.
There are plenty of other needed services and products that we all put out of mind as long as possible, and fair vendors are willing to remind us what needs to be done. Greg Verdugo is owner of Vancouver Chimney & Masonry, a company with six employees. He’s bought a booth at the fair’s exhibit hall for several years and figures the contacts he makes there account for almost one-third of his business. That, Verdugo says, makes it worth his while to spend long days at the fair, offering a greeting and a handshake, answering questions about fireplaces and hoping people remember his company when its time to clean that chimney.
