With more than a million visitors swarming into Puyallup every fall for The Fair, it seems silly to think that businesses could ever struggle.
It’s hard enough for downtown merchants to survive during normal months, and it gets harder as the crowds of fair-goers walk right past downtown businesses and head straight to the Puyallup fairgrounds.
For 17 days, life in East Pierce County centers around The Puyallup Fair, leaving many downtown shops with no other option but to lock their doors until the dust has settled. It’s an expensive time for many business who long for fair-goers to turn north for lunch or shopping every once in a while. It’s hard to compete with scones and roller coasters. Even if they could, shoppers probably couldn’t find a place to park, with all of the commuters and visitors clogging the streets.
Ken Burkhammer, owner of Don’s Drive-In, tried to keep his restaurant open during Fair season for a couple of years but his regulars stayed home and their business was replaced by rude customers and vandalism. It wasn’t worth it, so now he closes up shop and uses the time to work on odds and ends, paying his full-time employees and finding projects or Fair jobs for part-time employees.
Other downtown businesses don’t get any customers at all for almost three weeks, making it costly to keep someone standing at the cash register. It forces them to take a fall vacation even when they might wish to see the tropics during summer.
Dave Eatwell, director of the Puyallup Main Street Association, is trying a different tactic this year to keep life pumping into downtown stores. Coupon books supporting downtown merchants will be included in goody-stuffed backpacks sold at The Fair. It’s simply an attempt to get people to part with greasy burgers and trinkets and wander into the surrounding community.
Those who usually frequent the businesses that struggle every fall can help by continuing to support their neighbors. Brave the traffic, deal with the parking and don’t ignore the businesses that make Puyallup what it is the other 348 days of the year.
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