Flash Mob at the Puyallup Fair

September 7, 2012 was the opening day of the Puyallup Fair and it was a doozy! The weather was perfect, sunny and hot. That combined with free entry from 9 until noon if you brought a donation for the Puyallup food bank, meant that thousands (75,000 at last year’s opening day) headed for the fair.

My Zumba buddy Vicki and I thought we had the perfect plan to get around the traffic/parking problems. We were taking part in a top secret fair event, so we had a parking pass to one of the employee parking lots.

With half of the Puyallup streets closed, a trip downtown that usually takes less than 10 minutes stretched out to a frustrating hour. The fact that neither of us had bothered to find out exactly where the special parking lot was didn’t help. As the clock ticked closer to noon, we switched to Plan B and panic parked in a lady’s backyard for $10.

We didn’t have to report to our top secret fair event until 3:30, but killing time at the fair is not a problem. We crammed into the Americraft Showplex tried new skin care products, cut tomatoes with ceramic knives, and watched an expert make salsa.  We compared notes on what we’d each bought at past fairs, what worked, and what we were still using.

Outside in the sunshine, we chomped on hot, juicy roasted corn. I savored a pulled pork sandwich from Pete’s Barbecue. Vicki gobbled a turkey leg from Young Life.

At 3:30, we headed over to the VIP tent where Brenda from The Puyallup Fair (and Zumba) told us how to check everyone in for the secret event: a flash mob.

Vicki and I ready to check flash mobbers in.

A duck joins us to help the check-in process.

4:15: the first rehearsal. It went very well considering most of us had been practicing in different Zumba studios or at home individually by watching an instructional YouTube video: Puyallup Fair flash mob instructional video

4:30: the second rehearsal. Our leader, Kristyn from Zumba Maniacs tweaked how we’d flow onto “the stage.”  Things got a little more complicated when men on horseback and a giant duck were added to our dance troupe.

4:45: the final rehearsal. Good enough!

       Kristyn timed our group departures so that we’d slowly trickle out into the crowd, unnoticed. We milled around near the State Patrol building and the Americraft Showplex trying to look casual as rodeo cowboys and horses clomped by.

5:30: The opening guitar twangs of Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy started blasting from speakers turning one of the major intersections of the Puyallup Fair into a honky-tonk. 160 flash mobbers tucked our thumbs into our pockets (real and imaginary) and strutted our stuff across the asphalt. 

We Yee Hawed, grape vined, twirled, threw our hands up in the air, screamed with Usher, and did our best to Take Ova the “dance floor.”  Kids, grandmas, dads, costumed cowboys with built in horses, giant ducks, and sassy women, also known as flash mobbers, danced like crazy for four minutes, hooted and hollered, and then turned back into just your average fair-goers.

People watched the flash mob with grins on their faces. A few tried to join in. John did a great job videotaping us in action from the sidelines. Here’s the link:  Puyallup flash mob street view Look for me in my crimson Cougar t-shirt, skirt, and cowboy boots. Here's the fair's video of the mob: Puyallup fair flash mob

This year the Puyallup Fair’s slogan is “Get Your Happy On!” Woot! Woot! That’s exactly what did!

Laura Keolanui Stark crossed “Be part of a flash mob” off her bucket list. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com. If you’d like be in the flash mob on closing day, go to The Puyallup Fair’s Facebook page and click on Events.