117th El Paso County Fair starts Saturday in Calhan
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Adventure Begins Here is the theme of this year's county fair, beginning Saturday at the fairgrounds in Calhan on the east side of the county, around 45 minutes from Colorado Springs.
While the fair is commonly known for popular events such as carnival rides, a demolition derby, rodeo activities and car races, the primary focus is on celebrating and preserving the county's agricultural and rural heritage dating back to the first fair in 1905.
To that end, opening day will be Agricultural Day, followed by Western and Hispanic Heritage Day on Sunday.
The fair also offers several discount days, such as El Paso County Day on Monday (free general admission), Senior Day on Tuesday (discounted admission and free breakfast for people 55 and older), Dollar Day on Wednesday (discounted general admission) on, Family Day on Thursday (reduced admission for families of Thursday, Military Appreciation Day next Friday (free general admission for military members and their dependents), and First Responders & Heroes Day next Saturday (discounted admission for emergency responders) on the last day of the fair.
Theresa Odello, the fair's coordinator, said that the event has resumed normal operations since for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Normally, our attendance is between 25,000 to 30,000," she said. "We exceeded that last year even though we scaled back somewhat. We're hoping for more this year."
Odello said that the fair generates enough revenue -- through sponsorship, gate/event fees and vendor fees -- to pay for the following year's fair.
"The nice thing about this fair is we're probably the only one in all of Colorado that is fully sustainable," she said. "Most other counties get money from the city and the county to help out with the fair."
Although the fair will have the traditional carnival rides, they are being provided by a California operator for the first time, and Odello said they'll be better than in previous carnivals.
"Actually, we used to be limited to until COVID sent us out of state, said carnival owner Anthony Guadheno. "So now, we're going wherever we need to find work. We discovered that coming out of state has been kind of lucrative, so we decided to try something different. There are fairs back here that needed carnivals because the pandemic put a lot of carnivals out of business."
He said that he has avoided the problem of a worker shortage by using a work agency that provides employees from Mexico.
"We have around 30 workers," Guadheno said. "We have to enter a draw every year, and so so other carnival owners, to get the workers they need. This year, we were lucky to get them."
Other new events at the fair include an exotic animal zoo and an acrobatic/stunt team performance.
For more information, visit: https://www.elpasocountyfair.com/.
