Outside the gates of the Eastern Idaho State Fair
Wednesday marks the sixth day of the Eastern Idaho State Fair and while there’re tons of things going on inside the gates, there’s also a lot going on outside the gates.
Lyle Williams has lived right across the street from the main gate of the fair for three decades, spending the last 13 years crafting and selling his woodwork.
“They just say it’s good work,” Williams said. “I just make birdhouses and you know, wishing wells, bridges, windmills.”
While the fair is generally the time of year he does the most business, it’s not his favorite time to be a resident of Park Street.
“See, my grandmother owned the house and my aunt and uncle lived here for 50 years and I’ve been here 30 years or so,” he explained. “So, I don’t know, it gets old.”
Further down on Broadway, Jonathan Martinez and his wife are selling assorted woodwork and the tutu’s his wife makes from the front lawn of someone else’s house.
“We just decided it would be fun to come down and, you know, sell them here at the fair,” Martinez said. “Maybe make some little girl or someone’s day happier.”
Don’t worry, Martinez and his wife have permission to be there — they’ve rented the yard for the week.
“It’s been pretty solid honestly,” he said, “and there’s a lot more foot traffic this year, it feels, than the last couple of years. It’s been really nice, business has been good.”
And speaking of traffic, the fair had nearly 250,000 visitors in 2018, over 20 times the normal population of Blackfoot. With the massive crowds, parking becomes an issue. One that some have taken into their own hands.
“He bought this land so that he could do it for the fair time,” Braden Boyce, one of the many working selling parking on Broadway, explained. “It has been really busy.”
Boyce believes lots, like the one he works for, are super important for those planning to attend the fair’s biggest events.
“This is really good parking if they’re trying to get there quick and they can’t find any,” he said. “It’s really close, about 200 feet.”
With three days remaining at the fair, you still have a chance to check out the action before Broadway goes back to being just another street.
