SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — When you walk into the Utah State Fair, you might be overwhelmed with the appetizing smells coming out of Charlie's.
You might also find owner Charlie Doucet out front, who has been there for 11 years.
A little down the road, you'll hear the sound of balloons. That's where you'll find Winnie Allen, who has been traveling with her balloon booth for years.
Finally, on the other end of the fair, you'll find Dean Howell, who has been at the fair for 49 years.
“This has pretty much been my life doing caricatures, and this fair changed my life," he said.
So what do all these people have in common? Unfortunately, it's the reality of rising costs this year.
“Gas prices have went up, and that really affects us the most because we travel, of course," Allen said. "I would say that's the most expensive part of our living out here."
“Paper is not cheap, so this is probably over $2 just for this piece of paper. I buy a lot of really nice markers, and some of them only last for like two drawings," Howell said. "They cost me like eight bucks, so that's a lot of money.”
“There's a lot of vendors here that charge a lot for the food. Very expensive some places. So we try to make it right," Doucet said. "The affordability part of it is a big part of our success because people come back year after year.”
However, Doucet said things seemed well on the food front this year.
“At the beginning of the fair, I looked at our last year's totals, and I thought we're never going to match this," he said. "It's like, oh my gosh, and here we are, the last day we're matching last year's total."
However, others felt the impact.
“The cost of prices going up for different things has affected it a little bit, but people for the most part are still enjoying themselves and coming out," Allen said. "They're just not spending as much as normal."
“I would say every year I've done well at this fair. This year has been kind of down for me," Howell said. "I'm used to more, but I'm happy with what I've got.”
Despite the challenges, it's the people that make them come back every year.
“You just got to roll with the punches," Allen said. "I've done this my whole life. So some years it's good, some years it's not so good. Either way, though, if it was terrible, we wouldn't come back.”
Utah State Fair officials are still calculating attendance numbers along with overall revenue.