Thousands of people every year reach into their denim pockets and reach for their leather wallets for this two-week event. Alexander Hamilton printed on the green bill pays for the fair-goer to smell greasy food, ride rusty carnival rides, visit petting zoos, look at the grand prize-winning entries, and stand in lines for hours on end. 

Ever since 1856, the Utah State Fair has been a crowd pleaser for people of all ages. Many Highland students visited the fairgrounds this year, but only one ran away with a blue ribbon. 

“My grandma has been making jam my whole life,” sophomore Ella Carson said. “And last year I made a bunch of jam to give to my teachers.”

When Carson’s grandmother asked for a jar to keep for herself, Carson didn’t think twice of it and willingly handed some over.

As she headed to the fair this year, Carson thought she was taking the trip to see how her grandmother’s entries had placed. Her family huddled around her, all knowing her jam had been entered. As Carson’s eyes grazed from right to left up and down the shelves, she turned the corner and saw the very same jam she had given her grandmother a few months prior.

“I was shocked because I didn’t enter it,” Carson said. “My whole family was just staring at me laughing, but I was so happy.”

Carson waltzed out of the fair that night with a smile from ear to ear and excited to share her accomplishment.

The Utah State Fair gave another group of Highland students the opportunity of a lifetime. The school’s madrigals was selected to sing the chorus of “I Want to Know What Love Is” with Foreigner, a popular band that performs each year.

Last May, choir teacher Katie Houston received a call from the agent of the band inviting her students to join them at the upcoming fair. The group joined the band on stage and sang along with the hundreds of fans in the audience.

“Seeing their smiles made me realize why the arts are so important,” Houston said. “Music is such an important part of people’s lives and we are starting to move away from that.”

For many Highland students, the fair this year was worth more than taking pictures at the top of the ferris wheel. Carson looks forward to entering her homemade jam next year and for the members of madrigals, they have an experience they can look back on forever.