While the Ferris wheels and games are probably the Arlington County Fair’s most iconic attractions, an entire second world could be found this weekend indoors.
Many fairgoers sought refuge from a 100-degree heat index inside the Thomas Jefferson Community Center (3501 2nd Street S.). There, they encountered vendors selling assorted wares, advocates seeking signatories for petitions, assorted competitions and more.
“It’s been very fun — a little warm, but coming inside has been a great reprieve,” Lauren Johnson told ARLnow. “It hasn’t been a long wait for rides either. We just did the slide and that was really fun. [In here] it was fun to see what everyone did for the competition.”
The competitive exhibits at the Arlington County Fair included a photography competition, a gardening competition and other crafts contests.
“I’ve been enjoying the fair,” said Gary, a fair attendee. “It’s my first time coming and I enjoyed the competition in the back: the photo contest and the plants. I’m also enjoying the coffee and some baked goods.”
One of the largest indoor attractions was an inflatable planetarium — a portable display run by the David M. Brown Planetarium. The black igloo shape dominated a corner of the community center and often had lines of parents and kids.
Dana Ott, a board member of Friends of Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium, said that the exhibit attracted 338 people to its 21 shows on Friday.
Ott said one of the best parts of running the planetarium at the county fair is seeing the reactions from children as they leave. The county fair also gives her organization a chance to let locals know about their neighborhood planetarium, she said.
“People are awed because it’s a very immersive experience,” Ott said. “The shows are meant to be very dynamic and visual.”
“We love the planetarium,” said James, who brought his son to the county fair. “It’s incredible. It was so amazing.”
James said his son also enjoyed meeting with the Arlington County Police Department and seeing the K9 units.
The police and firefighters set up shop along a wall featuring various government departments.
At the Commissioner of Revenue booth, workers said it can be tough enticing visitors to an office that can, admittedly, sound boring — so they lured in visitors with a duck guessing game for children and a local government trivia game for adults.
“We’ve gotten some really good questions from our trivia game, and people have been learning more about not just what our office does, but what the County Board, the treasurer’s office and others in the county do,” said Caitlyn, a staff member at the Commissioner of Revenue’s office.
“It’s been very positive and upbeat,” said Jenny Hodge from the county manager’s office. “People have legitimately described it as a good vibe.”
Most of the floor was filled with a wide range of businesses. Among the most popular was Black Kraken Designs, a 3D printing shop.
“It’s been going really good,” said David, co-owner of Black Kraken. “We were here last year, so we’re seeing a lot of the same faces. We’re seeing families who said they’ve been waiting a year to see us again.”
One of the most popular toys at the shop is the $5 fidget spinners, but David said his favorite is a large octopus with segmented tentacles.
“I’ve been doing 3D printing as a hobby for about ten years and as a business for three years,” David said. “I’m a big scuba diver, so we do a lot of underwater stuff.”
Among vendors, the fair brings an air of companionship. At Haute Dogs, an Arlington restaurant with a food truck at the county fair, they swapped coffees and hot dogs with the nearby Commonwealth Joe Coffee Roasters.
“We had an experience yesterday. Food trucks run on propane, and if you’re running consistently for several hours, you can run out of fuel,” Haute Dogs co-founder Chloé Swanson said. “So we had that yesterday at 7 p.m. But we have some camaraderie with our fellow food trucks, and Reggie, who owns DMV Small Bites, came over and helped us switch out our propane tanks. We try to support each other and if anyone’s out of something, we have each other’s backs.”
Swanson said among the vendor’s wide selection of hot dogs, the popular fair choice among kids is the plain dog.
“When you have a good quality hot dog, you can put anything on it,” Swanson said.
