On Wednesday, Aug. 22, the Grant County Fair begins its annual run of exhibits, rides, rodeo shows and more. This year’s theme, “Pride in our Past, Faith in our Future,” seems particularly apt in light of a study done earlier this year by the Oregon State University Extension Service and Rural Studies Program.

The study was done amid continuing change and challenges for county fairs across the state. Just as economic change is rippling through the agricultural world, fairs are grappling with how to redefine their role. In many areas, fairs face stiff competition for people’s time, difficulty in finding volunteers and organizers, and questions regarding their relevance in an increasingly technical age.

The good news from the study is that fairs like the one starting this week in Grant County bear dividends in many sectors: business, education, youth development and community. In short, they are worth our time and our support.

The study examined the economic impact of county fairs in general by singling out three fairs in Oregon, from the large-metro-type to the small, remote event. Grant County got the nod as an example of the latter, while the other fairs studied were in Douglas and Tillamook counties.

The research shows that these fairs contribute to the local and state economies in several ways – stimulating spending at local businesses, bringing in tourist dollars, and providing jobs. That’s important because in recent years, as the study noted, rural economies have become “leakier” – with residents purchasing more and more goods produced and sold outside their home counties.

The study also cited fairs for their ability to showcase and reinforce our natural resource-based economic sectors, a feat accomplished through the traditional array of contests, exhibits and demonstrations. That has an obvious value in Grant County, where we are struggling to cope with the changes rocking our traditional economic mainstay industries, ag and timber. There’s no doubt that examining these key industries will help us chart our course into the future.

The study also finds that fairs bring in visitors who spend money not just at the fairgrounds, but in the larger business community as well. In fact, the research found that the fairs attract or retain $34 million in new sales to their counties.

“They use the modest support they receive from the state and their county governments to create enterprises that are often 5 to 10 times greater than the public funding they receive,” the study states.

Yet the most intriguing value cited in the study may be the idea of “social capital” created by county fairs.

“People visit county fairs and activities at fairgrounds more than 5.8 million times each year,” the study notes. “Forty-eight thousand exhibitors showed the products of their labor or taught people how to do what they do in more than 175,000 exhibits or presentations.

“As schools and nonprofits experience increasing pressure to provide activities and settings where youth can compete and socialize in ways that build skills … county fairs become more important.”

The benefit is not just for youth, however, but for professional ranchers and farmers. The report notes that while the average size of the farm has decreased, Oregon has more farms today than 25 years ago. Fairs can provide a place for both the large operators and enterprising small farmers to network and learn from one another’s experiences.

“There may be potential to reverse some of the job losses of the past three decades in agriculture through these labor-intensive adaptive farms. County fairs and the 4-H youth programs may be able to help foster a new and larger generation of farmers,” the report notes.

Overall, a key impact of county fairs may be their ability to bring people together in an era of increasing societal isolation. In gregarious Grant County, this may not seem like much of a problem, but even here, neighbors don’t always know each other well and community groups don’t always communicate well. The fair is a place for all of us to gather and to celebrate our heritage and our future.

All of that makes this week’s fun and festivities much more meaningful than just a bunch of curly fries and carnival rides. The county fair is a money-maker, an educational experience and a community-builder. As assets go, it’s a good one to keep in Grant County’s portfolio for the future.