Carver County Fair

This fair has so much potential but it seems woefully undermanaged. We visited on Saturday and found the venue very dirty, overcrowded, and unfriendly. I took my son to the bathroom and it appeared to have not been cleaned the entire time since the fair had opened several days earlier. We have been to the fair nearly every year for at least the past 10 years and it seems that every year it gets dirtier and the prices just keep edging up. This weekend we saw kids pushing and shoving each other into elderly patrons, seats that had dried-​on ketchup that obviously had been there for several days, trash and discarded food all over the grounds — overall a very unsavory experience. With the price of admission approaching the cost to attend the Minnesota State Fair, I would have expected better. In addition to the police officers that I would see on a rare occasion, it would be nice to see fair workers in some sort of official shirt (or even nametags) that could serve as ambassadors and clean-​up staff so it looked at least like someone cared. It is as if they just opened the gates on day one and management went home. Even the first impression is negative. I gave my admission money to someone I THINK works for the fair, but without any sort of identification (shirt, nametag, something!!!) how would I even know that they are official? The fair board has put money into the buildings (with several new buildings popping up over the past few years and apparently the infrastructure (new sound system), but I think that perhaps some attention should be paid to the «fan experience.» Not sure if we will be back next year as our entertainment dollar may be better spent elsewhere…