Keeping the Fair Safe Public Comment from Sara BusseFrom:Sara Busse
To:Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Keeping the Fair Safe
Date:Monday, August 3, 2020 12:03:47 PM
Four days before Kalispell Public Schools are slated to open, the Northwest Montana Fair will be ending. As a
parent of kids who would beg, steal, or borrow their way into the sticky, hot mess of communal rides, finger foods,
and up-close-and-personals with their friends, we will be putting a HARD NO on this year’s attendance, in favor of
a safe return to in-person school. I ask the Kalispell City Council to recommend to the Flathead County Health
Department to please reconsider their decision to move forward with all special events associated with the
Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo, with the exception of the educational opportunities afforded to 4-H and FFA
members.
These are unprecedented times to be sure. As a kid, the fair was always the highlight of the summer for me -
carnival rides, concerts, the PRCA rodeo, and general rabble rousing were looked forward to for months. But, I
know my parents and the responsible adults around me would have looked at the bigger picture and assured me
something like COVID and it's community spread in the Flathead is far bigger than me. It is about WE and the
future of our schools, businesses, and livelihoods.
More than the Fair, my kids want to go back to school. Desperately so. They will gladly wear a mask and wash
their hands 30 times a day if it means that they can laugh with their friends, hear from their favorite teachers, make
music together, and let’s be honest, cause a little trouble.
Why on earth would we hamper the one thing our economy, our kids, and our health need - school - with the
momentary pleasure of a few that could be devastating for so many?
There is a solid and safe plan in place for the 4-H and FFA kids to move forward showcasing their year-long work,
and I say go for it.
But opening the gates to potentially 80,000 special event goers over seven days, during COVID, and four days
before the start of in-person school? What are you thinking?! Every major event has been cancelled in our valley -
from Under the Big Sky to the Event at Rebecca Farm (only competitors allowed), and yet you believe it is going to
be safe to host the biggest event of all by far - the Fair?
While I appreciate the work that has been done to try and mitigate and plan for this event, there is simply no way
to safely manage and police that many people, in that close proximity, given the guidelines required.
It is the wrong decision for our community, and specifically our kids, for all special events of the Northwest
Montana Fair & Rodeo to go forward.
Sara Busse, Kalispell
406.253.1708