by Tessa Keller
Fargo is constantly growing. And with that growth, comes frequent change to the community and the activities that occur within the community. A few things that have experienced this change include annual Fargo festivals, such as RibFest and the Red River Valley Fair.
According to Jamie Costello, the Fargo, North Dakota RibFest started back in 1996. They celebrated their 25th anniversary two years ago. She says, “A lot of people that come to RibFest, come from out of town.” They want to experience all the activities that RibFest has to offer.
There are games every day and music every night. RibFest is a four day event that lasts Wednesday through Saturday and every day is a cultural experience. Costello, says they are seeing more and more traffic every year from out of town.
The crowd is composed of mostly college-age kids to 50 year olds, and families with children are often seen there during the day.
Costello says the festival originally took place on the south side of the Fargodome. However, with the continued growth they had to move it to the north parking lot to accompany all of the people. When asked about how RibFest could change in the future, Jamie says they approach it with a, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” mentality.
Brian Schulz, the general manager of the Red River Valley Fair, approaches the Red River Valley Fair with the same mentality. The fair started back in 1905. It used to be located where the Fargo North High school is now located. It moved to its current location in West Fargo in 1967, due to the city’s request as Fargo continues to grow.
According to Bryan Schulz, the fair and its activities grow every year. Schulz says the use of the Red River Valley fairgrounds has drastically increased, including weddings and funerals.
Schulz says the diversity of the fairgrounds is very mixed, with 30 to 40 percent of the crowd typically being families, 30 percent is usually 18 to 30-year olds, and 10 percent of the crowd are senior citizens.
With the growth of Fargo, Schulz predicts that the use of the fairgrounds will change more and more for more diverse purposes, yet the culture of it will stay the same.
Currently the staff is looking to build a new convention center that will in turn attract more people, and allow for more events. Schulz also says they currently have 12 full time staff, a couple interns, some part time interns, but are looking to hire more in the future.
The future holds a lot of possibilities for new activities and new experiences in the Fargo/Moorhead area. One thing that will never change however, is the culture experienced at these annual festivals.
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