It’s time to dust off the boots, match your best jeans with your most colorful shirt and pull out that hat that’s been in the closet for the past 12 months. Fair time is at its height, a time-honored tradition drawing together both rural and urban elements, an opportunity to let down, get down, hoe down and claim a break from the pressures of daily life.

Hardly a break, some would say. Leading up to its opening, young and old alike compete to be the best rider, show person, quilter, carpenter, photographer, clothes maker and rocketeer, among others. Food is an indulgence, both shown...