Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >> Mark Mulligan  (click to enlarge) Workers carry tubes on Wednesday for the bumper boats at the Evergreen State Fair.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Audio slideshow: 100 Years at The Evergreen State Fair 8/22/08 • State fair opens with style in Monroe 8/22/08 • Evergreen State Fair Results 9/3/08 • Fair's been quite a ride 9/1/08 • The Fair: Best bets 9/1/08 • The Fair: Results 9/1/08 • A front-row seat at the fair 8/31/08 • Evergreen State Fair results 8/31/08 • Best Bets for Saturday at the Evergreen State Fair 8/30/08 • Evergreen State Fair Results 8/29/08 • What goes into a photo? Light, camera, action 8/29/08 • The Fair best bets for Aug. 28 8/28/08 • The Fair snapshot: A cattle fan's two worlds 8/28/08 • Fair results 8/28/08 • The Fair: Best bets 8/27/08 • The Fair: Results 8/27/08 • The Fair: Snapshot 8/27/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, August 22, 2008 Behind the scenes at the fair Mark Mulligan, The Herald You can't see their faces, but they are the reason we enjoy the fair: ­ carnival workers laboring behind the scenes, making the final preparations necessary for opening day at the Evergreen State Fair. I met them emerging from the midway on Wednesday afternoon. Although closed to the public that afternoon, the fair bristled with energy. Workers raising roller coasters into the sky, vendors roasting chickens and turkey legs, trucks bringing swollen bags of plush toys for the midway games, then these pairs of legs laden with stacks of tubes -- tomorrow's bumper boats becoming today's picture. I snapped as they rounded the corner. They didn't have time to stop for a burger. Their day was all business. We often miss the people whose labor runs the fair. An entire population lives on the road with the rides, sleeping in bunks at the fairgrounds and answering round-the-clock calls to labor as the fair rolls on. They remain faceless as we amuse ourselves.

1. Hoax claims 'ridiculous,' Minutemen leader says 2. New product safety law a blow to shops 3. Gregoire's whereabouts a mystery 4. Flood watch on for Snohomish County rivers 5. Gregoire visits National Guard troops in Iraq 6. Deadly Everett fire's cause still elusive 7. Avalanche closes U.S. 2 near the summit 8. Tuesday Hot Sheet: Governor found, budget battles, ferry tales 9. Silvertips trade Beach to Lethbridge 10. Smokers' struggle to quit is even harder during tough times 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• The poet speaks • Quieting the mind • Students of the Month • T-Wolves survive slow start, beat M-P • T-birds' Michaels on track for state titles • The senior center limbo • Clues to destructive fire frozen in plastic • Bonding on the lanes • Terrace learns from holiday tourney losses • Edmonds surgeons on cutting edge of weight loss • Stillaguamish Tribe’s Angel of the Winds Casino opens new addition Dec. ...