Photo: brownpau, Flickr.
As the Broward County Fair doesn't have a fairgrounds of its own, it found itself homeless this year after its previous host, the Fort Lauderdale Stadium, closed for renovations. Scrambling for a solution, the fair relocated to a shopping mall.
"We'd rather have something than nothing at all," said the volunteer who answered the fair office's phone.
The Pompano Citi Centre has plenty of space for competitions and exhibits -- the spelling bee is scheduled for a room over LensCrafters, and student gardeners will display their plants at Lowe's -- but there's no room for rides or food vendors. According to the volunteer, who identified herself as Denise, the only food at the fair will be the canned beans, pound cakes and other edibles submitted for judging.
But Denise says audiences for the livestock shows and beautiful baby pageant won't go hungry. Rather than feast on cotton candy and funnel cakes, they'll buy their snacks from the mall's many restaurants.
"There's a Cold Stone Creamery, a Subway, a Panera Bread," Denise says, ticking off the mall's tenant list. "They'll have all sorts of items."
The Broward County Fair opens Friday for a nine-day run; admission is free.
"The Fair will be quite different," the fair's Web site concedes. "That is a great loss for some, but it will give all fair visitors time to concentrate on what are the most essential and important elements of any and all fairs: ... the community's agri-business and its students."
11-18-2009 @11:13AM Gary said... Sounds like a pretty horrible fair. A good part of the allure of going to a fair like that is all the yummy fried goodness that can be found
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11-18-2009 @2:48PM Mandy said... Yeah, right. Food vendors make and serve food outside in all kinds of weather so there's no reason they couldn't have set up in the parking lot of the mall. I think the deal the fair cut with the mall was to specifically prohibit food vendors, so that people would have no choice but to buy food from the mall restaurants.
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