Jeff and Linda Heltz of Ferndale watched their grandson and granddaughter ride the carousel Saturday afternoon at the Arkansas State Fair.
"We've been here five hours with our grandchildren, so we're glad to be back," Linda Heltz said.
Last year's fair in Little Rock was largely canceled because of the pandemic and the risk of the coronavirus spreading in large crowds. The talent and beauty pageants were held virtually, and the livestock show went on as planned with social distancing measures in place, but there were no carnival rides, concerts, arts and crafts, or food vendors.
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The fair typically sees more than 400,000 visitors a year, and the regularly scheduled activities were "in full swing" Saturday, interim general manager Anne Marie Doramus said.
The fairgrounds will be open daily at 11 a.m. until the fair's last day next Sunday. On Friday, the fair's first day, saw just over 25,000 people, and the second day surpassed the first, Doramus said, though she did not have the combined attendance count by Saturday evening.
"The rain [Friday] afternoon got several people out of the door, but there were also a whole bunch of people who stayed," she said.
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The Grant County 4-H Club had six cattle at Saturday's livestock show. The club participates in several livestock competitions per year, and while the show at last year's fair was in person, many competitions were done entirely online and required a "big learning curve," said Taylor Donnelly, a 4-H Club member and a Future Farmers of America teacher.
"We're very much happy that competitions are back in person," Donnelly said.
The fair's talent and beauty pageants were back to normal after a year of livestreamed performances, director Joan Warren said. Filming and broadcasting everything on Facebook was a challenge, and getting everything back on a stage with an in-person audience was a relief this year, she said.
Presley Bennett, 13, of White Hall, the daughter of Jason and Jessie Bennett, won a Grand Supreme title in her age group Saturday. She said she enjoyed participating in last year's virtual pageant, even though it was different from the competitions she was used to.
"It felt good to be filming in my own studio, so I thought that was cool and a learning opportunity," she said of last year's event.
As for the food, Roger Westmoreland Concessions usually serves carnival food at 32 events per year in several states, ranging from Texas to Minnesota, owner Paula Westmoreland said, but the pandemic ground the business to a halt last year.
"This is what we do for a living," she said. "This is not a pastime. This is our livelihood."
In June 2020, the organizers of the fair arranged a four-day take-out event called Fair Food To-Go to provide their usual vendors with some financial relief, Doramus said.
"You get everything ready come February [2020] and think you're going to be going to all these carnivals, and then all of a sudden they're canceled, and it takes a big hit to your pocketbook," she said. "We wanted to help them out as best we could."
Westmoreland and Theresa Murtha said they appreciated the opportunity to still have some business at the State Fair last year. Murtha and her husband own Pat's Kitchen in North Little Rock, and she said they usually work at least 40 events per year.
Heltz said she and her husband attended Fair Food To-Go with some friends and enjoyed it, but returning to a busy State Fair this year without having to wear masks is "liberating."
The vendors' presence in the Little Rock area for more than a week every year has a ripple effect economically, Westmoreland said, since the vendors support local businesses by staying in hotels and RV parks, buying gasoline and eating at locally owned restaurants. The absence of the State Fair meant that business was gone last year, she said.
"I feel like we're slowly pacing back [to normal business], but after the scare everybody had, I don't think you can just come back to a normal," she said.
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