Diver to swim with the sharks at Spokane Interstate Fair

The Spokane County Interstate Fair, at 2,000 feet above sea level, doesn’t seem like the kind of place you would find sharks.

Diver Philip Peters and his one-man traveling shark show are going to change that.

The public will get a close-up look at some of the apex predators of the deep during the 10-day fair that opens Friday.

Fair officials hope the sharks will create enough excitement to send attendance over the 200,000 mark for the first time since 2012.

Peters, reached by phone last week, said the show draws crowds wherever he goes.

“You can’t go wrong with sharks,” he said. “Kids love sharks.”

Peters begins the show in front of a 5,000-gallon aquarium mounted on a semitrailer. After his introductory remarks, he dives into the water to swim with four nurse sharks: Loretta, Jim, Joe and Evey.

During the swim, Peters holds on to the sharks for a ride and narrates what’s happening through a microphone in his diving mask.

Nurse sharks, which range along the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Seaboard, are docile unless threatened, he said.

It’s not that they are totally safe. “I’ve been bitten quite a few times,” Peters said.

But he’s been traveling with the show for 20 years. Spokane will be his next stop after his most recent appearance in Wisconsin.

Of 350 shark species, only a few are dangerously aggressive, he said, even though many people think of sharks as man-eating creatures.

“They are more afraid of you,” he said of his type of shark.

Peters’ goal in the Haai Shark Encounter is to educate the public as well as entertain, he said.

The four sharks in this year’s show were previously in captivity for research or aquariums and were not taken from the wild. They cannot legally be returned to the sea, Peters said.

Sharks actually are under human attack – caught for their fins, which are used in Asia to make shark-fin soup.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims 100 million sharks are slaughtered each year.

At the fair in Spokane, the Shark Encounter can be seen most days at 12:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 9 p.m.

On Sunday, there will be a 9 a.m. show instead of a 9 p.m. show. The following Sunday, Sept. 18, will have three shows at 12:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

More bang for the buck

The shark show is part of an ongoing effort by the fair to give the public more fun for the money. The show is included with admission.

“We want you to feel fully entertained,” said Erin Gurtel, marketing and sales manager for the fair.

Also new this year is a Moto X motorcycle race at 4 p.m. Sunday in the grandstand arena.

The carnival rides will include a new 45-foot-high “Spin Out.”

The 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be observed in a ceremony at 11 a.m. Sunday in the grandstand arena.

The Spokane Valley Fire Department will take part in the ceremony, which will include a color guard, pipe and drum corps, invocation and wreath laying.

Traditional favorites will be part of the fair, too, such as the live concerts, rodeo and demolition derby.

The ever-popular “mutton busting” – children trying to ride sheep – will be repeated throughout each day along with racing pigs.

This will be the 30th year for the popular rodeo on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the grandstand arena.

The fair expects 14,000 community entries for everything from arts and crafts to flowers and vegetables.

A state grant helps fund cash premiums for the ribbon winners.

65 fairs on Havana

The fair began in 1886 under the Washington and Idaho Fair Association.

This will be the 65th fair to be held at the current location at 404 N. Havana St.

Before that, the interstate fair was held at the site of the former Playfair horse race track.

The fair staff includes 15 full-time employees and a force of more than 200 temporary employees who run many of the programs, such as the livestock competition.

The annual budget is $4.3 million.

Butler Amusements is again providing the rides.

For more information and schedules, go to fairandexpo.org