The Great New York State Fair was not so great this year as there were many problems at the 385-acre entertainment, educational, and agriculture venue. This was the 176th year for the fair, located in Central New York, in the town of Geddes, a Syracuse suburb. The fair ran from Wednesday, August 21 through Monday, September 2, Labor Day.
There was no Jewish presence at the fair this year. There was no kosher food and the Central New York Chabad did not get their booth set up.
“We don’t have any plans for the state fair this year,” Rabbi Yaakov Rapoport told The Jewish Press before the event. Rabbi Rapoport is the executive director of the Chabad-Lubavitch of Central New York, which includes five Chabad houses in the Central New York area, serving students at state colleges in Cortland and Oswego as well as the private higher educational institutions of Oneida County-based Hamilton College in Clinton, Madison County-based Colgate University in Hamilton, and Utica University, all under his umbrella. The main Chabad House is based at Syracuse University.
“We have been exhibiting here for more than 35 years, close to 40, years. We were here every year. We had an exhibit. In the last 15 years we were set up in the Art and Home Center – we had a Jewish heritage exhibit, a Jewish life exhibit. This year, we do not. [Despite] an exorbitant price increase [the $500 exhibitor fee was increased to $2,000], we felt it was worth it, not just for the people we could reach, but people traveling from all over. [But ultimately] there were also some [technical glitches]. And the [fair officials] closed the registration earlier than we were told.” Nevertheless, Rabbi Rapoport told us, “We’re hoping to have some young rabbinical students (bochrim) walk around and meet people. We would like to be back at the fair soon, hopefully.”
In the past, for two years before Covid, kosher food made an appearance at the fair. The food was provided by Catering by the Oaks, managed by Sodexo from Menorah Park, an independent senior living facility also providing a continuum of care for Jews in Central New York.
Plans are underway to provide kosher food at the fair next year.
“No kosher food. I’ll have to bring that up,” Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D – North Syracuse, Onondaga County) told The Jewish Press. Another assemblyman also seemed to be surprised there was no kosher food available. “There’s no kosher food here? We should change that. I’ve been here my whole life and I wasn’t aware of that,” Assemblyman John Lemondes (R – Jamesville, Onondaga County) said. “That’s something to look into. We’ll change that. Every community matters.”
One family of four Jewish fairgoers came prepared with their own food. “We didn’t come expecting any kosher food. It would have been nice to have some here,” Daniel Wechsler, 53, of Lakewood, NJ, told The Jewish Press. “I’m sure we can find kosher chips and drinks so that’s fine. We’re having a great time here… We have a couple of little grandchildren running around so we are partially tied down to their whims and level of patience.”
An aide to the Agriculture and Markets Commissioner told The Jewish Press that they didn’t have any kosher establishments apply to be vendors.
The Albany-based 518Kosher is interested in bringing their food truck to the fair for the entire 13-day run of the event. Whoever ends up with the contract to provide kosher food will seek to close on Shabbos. This anomaly was allowed during the years kosher food was provided.
“I would love to see it come back. Let’s hope somebody picks up the ball and runs with it,” Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli (D – Syracuse) said, noting he would have no problem advocating for kosher food at the fair.
For the second consecutive year, an Asian village is part of the ethnic culture at the fair joining the Pan-African, Latino, and Indian villages. The Asian village includes Israel, naming its capital as Jerusalem. Palestine also appears as part of Asia with Ramallah listed as its capital city. One vendor, an Egyptian who runs a food cart in the Asian village, Habibi’s Halal Gyro, had a sticker on his napkin holder stating “Free Palestine.” There is a movement underway for the Jewish Federations from across the state to band together to include an Israel tent in the Asian village next year.
“New York probably has one of the biggest Jewish populations in the country and [an Israel tent] would make a lot of sense,” State Senator Rachel May (D – Syracuse) told The Jewish Press. “These kinds of things really help to combat a lot of prejudices and people start to recognize this is not about some foreign country, this is about America and Americans.”
May said she passed a law where a swastika, “a symbol of hate to all of us but especially to Jews around the world, is prohibited from being waved as a flag or drawn on a wall on state land, such as the state fair.”
Magnarelli said having a booth about Israel would be a positive move. “I would hope that people would like to see all the different cultures from around the world. Palestinian, Israeli, Lebanese, everybody. I would hope people would respect one another and learn about each other. This would be a perfect place to do it,” he said. “I, for one, would welcome them and would attend but on the other hand I can’t speak for everyone on that. I would support it if the Jewish community wanted it.”
“I think it would be wonderful if Israel had a booth here,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh told The Jewish Press.
There was a lot of excitement and anticipation about a new exhibit that featured goat cuddling. Veterinarians at the fair determined during an exam hours before the gates opened on day one that a three-month-old Nigerian dwarf goat named Monique had a contagious disease known as Orf, a virus common in sheep and goats which causes sores around the mouth of the goats. The owner of the 100 goats at the fair, Justin Steinmetz said it was dried milk and grains in the corner of her mouth and it would have taken five minutes to scrub it off.
Nevertheless, Steinmetz was called to come back to the fair from his family farm in Temple, Pennsylvania, to pick up his goats and remove them from the fairgrounds. He contended the misdiagnosis cost him $30,000 in travel, lodging, and other expenses related to exhibiting at the fair and a loss of $250,000 in revenue he expected to earn during the fair run.
“It was an exciting thing to have at the fair but our vets spotted something that was a concern and dealt with it,” Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball told The Jewish Press. “We have four veterinarians here including our number two state vet, and they identified the problem. They were correct. We have very clear regulations about the challenge.”
“We have protocols in place before we let the public in,” State Fair Director Julie LaFave told The Jewish Press, noting there are many animal exhibits at the fair.
After the goats were returned home to their farm, veterinary labs at Cornell University and Central Washington University ran tests on the goat in question, and the results were negative, proving the goat did not have any disease, according to Steinmetz.
That was the excitement for day one, known as Governor’s Day. Governor Kathy Hochul, however, was in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado filled in for her. Hochul finally arrived at the fair on Wednesday, August 28.
“We’re so lucky to have access to some of the best food in the world, grown and produced right here in our own backyard,” Hochul said. “Agriculture is the backbone of our state, which is why we made a promise one year ago to increase the amount of food state agencies must buy from local growers and producers. In just one year alone, we’re already ahead of schedule in continuing to invest in New York’s growers and producers and we’re not stopping there. We will continue taking action to support our farmers and the future of our agricultural industry for decades to come.”
She said that spending on New York State food increased from a reported $14.9 million in 2022 to approximately $78 million in 2023. She noted that state agencies will need to increase the percentage of food sourced from New York farmers and producers to 30 percent by the end of 2027.
By the end of the fair, Sunday, September 1, state police ordered the fair to close early out of an abundance of caution when fairgoers went running for cover as some thought gunshots were fired. After an investigation of the fairgrounds, there was no sign of gunfire.
“We have technology on our side now so we work with the state troopers and quite a few different agencies and divisions monitoring social media, monitoring our cameras, drone footage, putting in place barriers so that vehicles can’t drive through,” LaFave told The Jewish Press. “We are constantly monitoring every scenario there is. We actually do a tabletop exercise going through various scenarios. If this happens, how will we all respond? What’s the response time? What’s the messaging we will put out? Everything is geared around keeping our fairgoers, our vendors, everybody here safe. Our measure of success here is people having a good time, feeling safe, feeling that they had a good time all around.”
Another problem at the fair this year was the cancellations of three concerts. While there were no Jewish performers at the state fair concert venues, popular mainstream groups filled the amphitheater stage. But some scheduled acts didn’t appear, due to one performer contracting food poisoning and others testing positive for Covid.
Attorney General Letitia James made an appearance at the fair, as did many other elected officials from the State Senate and the Assembly, including Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli held a news conference at the fair asking New Yorkers to check the unclaimed funds page on the Comptroller’s website.
Fair officials are planning on a new attraction. “Soon to come is a greenhouse that will be built,” said Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball.
The attendance for the 13-day spectacular was 868,745, down by seven percent from 2023. Day 12 of the fair, Sunday, September 1, was the only day the attendance eclipsed 100,000 attendees for a single day.
The New York State Fair was the first in the nation when it opened in 1841. That year, John Tyler, a Whig, was president and William Seward, also a Whig, was governor.
