By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The announcement that the State Farm Fair will no longer be held in the Aloha Stadium parking lot gave voice to a question that Neighbor Island folks have pondered for years: How can you have a farm fair in a parking lot?

Ho, those Honolulu people. So urban, yeah?

As Eloise Aguiar's story detailed, the State Farm Fair will split into two separate events: the 4-H Farm Fair, to be held in July at Kualoa Ranch, and the State Farm Fair, organized by the O'ahu County Farm Bureau, to be held at a time and a (less city-fied) location yet to be determined.

Thank goodness. Thinking of all those prize-winning chickens sitting around that big parking lot was unnerving for true kua'aina.

Years ago, when the venerable Maui County Fair moved from the venerable Maui County Fairgrounds to the decidedly more urban (by Maui standards) War Memorial Complex, Maui folks were nervous.

The old fair grounds had buildings, dedicated buildings, for displays of home economics and fashion. Between rides on the Tilt-a-Whirl, you could walk off the nausea by strolling through aisles and aisles of popcorn-stitch crocheted afghans and patchwork potholders. Where would the potholders and afghans go at the new site? Under the tent — not the same.

The old fairgrounds had booths, permanent generations-old worn, wooden food booths, where you could buy just one kind of food item per booth. Pronto pups here. Cotton candy there. Soda down behind the Ferris wheel. The long line for Flying Saucers (ingredients: hamburger, corn, tomato sauce, onion, bread) was always in the same spot. Suddenly, all that stuff would be in a different place. It was disconcerting.

The old, old Maui fairgrounds even had a horse racing track surrounded by the most uncomfortable wooden bleachers you could ever imagine. Folks would bring great wads of bedding from home to sit on. But the fair went on for many years at the old fairgrounds without the race track, and folks eventually got used to not having it there. Besides, there was other uncomfortable seating to be found around the main stage, which consisted of raised plywood under a leaky tent. Amazing how nostalgic you can get for splintered wood and leaky tents.

The Maui County Fair adjusted to its new surroundings pretty well. Different, but still fun. Still Maui. Yet, that unease never really went away, and there has been talk over the past couple of years of moving the fair to another spot, someplace less busy, less URBAN than the sports complex on the border between Wailuku and Kahului.

The new incarnations of the State Farm Fair on O'ahu sound like a return to a more simple time and style. After all, a farm fair doesn't seem very authentic unless you come home covered with a layer of farm dirt and sawdust. And chickens tend to dislike parking lots.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.