Matt Richards knows exactly what he wants to do on Saturday, Aug. 16: grab a beer and relax in the upper field at the Arlington County Fair.
After five years as chair of the Arlington County Fair Board, Richards is among those on the all-volunteer board who will be able to take a breath and enjoy the fruits of their labor this year thanks to a new partnership with the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation.
Richards and Jerusalem Solomon, communications and engagement manager for the Department of Parks and Recreation, sat down with ARLnow for an interview about the new Arlington County partnership.
The full recording is available on The ARLnow Podcast via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Audacy, TuneIn or your favorite listening app.
The Arlington County Fair is a five-day event, from Aug. 13-17, at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center (3501 Second Street South). Admission is free and tickets on rides and games are available for purchase.
The event has gotten so big in recent years that, Richards said, keeping it as a 100% volunteer-run event was no longer feasible.
“Handing over the operations and logistics to the county has been a wonderful transition for us,” Richards said. “Over five years, we’ve more than doubled the attendance. As a volunteer organization, we can’t handle it logistically. Now we can focus more on the competitive exhibits, like who has the biggest tomato or the biggest cucumber.”
“I’ve known Matt for many years, so it’s a soft transition,” Solomon said. “The learning curve is high … but it truly is a great partnership.”
The partnership comes alongside a few notable changes, like the new beer garden on the upper field of the fairgrounds — thanks to a county code change earlier this year.
“For five years, [we’ve] been trying to make the beer garden more integrated with the fair so you can have a beer, your kid can go on the rides, it can all be coalesced together,” Richards said. “We’re finally moving the beer garden — with help from Arlington County on the ordinances — onto the fairgrounds.”
In addition to allowing visitors to listen to musical acts while drinking, Solomon said the move helps with transportation issues that have plagued the fair in the past.
“[Moving the beer garden] frees up space on Second Street, so it’s better two-way traffic, a better shuttle experience, and less need for traffic enforcement,” Solomon said.
Both Richards and Solomon emphasized that those attending the fair should, if at all possible, take shuttles rather than try to drive to the fair’s extremely limited parking. One free shuttle, for instance, will run directly from the the Ballston Mall parking garage to the fair.
The fair also allows dogs on the fairgrounds with a leash, though only service animals are permitted on shuttles and indoors.
“For us, what matters most is a safe, fun, as free as possible event for the community,” Richards said. “We can execute on that mission more now that a professional group of great people … are taking [some responsibilities] off our plate. So I’m looking forward to taking a break on Saturday and having beers in the beer garden.”
