Outside state fair, vendors offer street-side alternatives

The Eastern Idaho State Fair boasts a maze of vendors and foods.

But not too far outside the fair gates, there’s a whole other world of folks offering an alternative to the hustle and bustle inside.

You could probably shout your sandwich order to Del Hansen from the fair’s main gate, and you’d have a piping hot hoagie in no time.

Del’s dad worked the Hansen’s Hoagies sandwich stand for 80 years inside the fair. Del has worked it for 56 years.

But this year, he decided to try something different.

“I wanted to achieve a new atmosphere,” he said.

He said he loves the hustle and bustle inside the fair, but he wanted his stand to feel more like a restaurant where folks can sit and talk. He wanted a place to relax before the overwhelming buzz on the other side of the gates.

“We talk about the horse races and everything that’s happening on the inside, and they’re excited to get in there,” he said.

It might seem like that’s where everything’s happening: inside the fair gates.

“I’ve been here long enough so I get return people,” said Lyle Williams. “It’s kind of fun I guess.”

Williams isn’t inside the fair, and he hasn’t been for 8 years.

Every year he sells troves of intricate hand-made birdhouses from his front yard across the street from the fair.

“You see all kinds of people walking around, and walking through,” said Williams.

All of those people walking to the fair down Broadway in Blackfoot can’t miss Samantha Smith and her Cherished Treasures booth.

“We get to see more people, think about it,” said Smith. “All the people going in, and all the people coming out.”

Just like Del Hansen, Smith said outside the rush, shopping is just a little more relaxing.

“You have people running into you and stuff, and here you know, you’re out in the fresh air,” she said.

There are about half a dozen vendors on the fair’s southside, and a handful more near the northside gates as well.