A Fair Number Tour Shows That Crowd Isn’t All That Counts
The official word is that attendance at the Spokane Interstate Fair is down from last year.
As of Saturday night, about 241,000 people had filed through the gates down about 8.6 percent, or 23,000 people, from the same time last year.
But attendance figures aren’t the only numbers that tell a story about a fair. Here’s a brief tour of some fair numbers on its last day Sunday.
1,700 - the approximate weight in pounds of Mountain Time, a white Charolais bull, named the fair’s Supreme Champion Bull.
Owned by Alan and Leslie Alexander, Mountain Time has lots of interesting numbers in his life. Take the numbers between 15 and 20, for example. Somewhere in there is an exact count of offspring Mountain Time fathered this season. If he stays healthy, Mountain Time can look forward to about 10 years of this tough duty, said Leslie Alexander.
8 - the number of dollars a Weasel Ball costs at Jeff Schaffer’s carnival toy tent.
“I sell anywhere from a dozen to three dozen a day,” said Schaffer, who is from Clearwater, Wash.
The Weasel Ball consists of a sphere attached to a piece of striped fur with eyes. Thanks to a battery-powered motor in the ball, the sphere rolls around in unpredictable directions, giving the illusion that the fur with eyes is pushing it. It was Schaffer’s biggest seller.
“Potato guns are number two,” he said, surrounded by toys like inflatable killer whale dolls.
10 - The number of years Phil Marshall has been selling Australian Meat Rolls at the fair.
Marshall speculated he’d sold hundreds of the flaky pastry with the spiced meat filling in the past 10 days.
“I’ve always liked Australia, but I’ve never been there,” said the Priest River, Idaho, resident.
3,000 - The number of $1 tickets sold for a ride on the Inland Empire Railroad Historical Society’s small train. The train makes loops around about 100 yards of track twice before depositing customers at the same place they got on.
“There were good days and bad days. You never know,” said George Martin. He’d been selling tickets to the ride from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the fair.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo