Originally reported October 19, 2007.
The Greater Gulf State Fair opened in Mobile on Friday, Oct. 19, 2007, with organizers encouraging visitors to make health and safety a priority.
That focus was especially evident at the fair’s petting zoo. Vendor Dennis Cook said the exhibit had hand-washing dispensers and towels, as well as a border around the animal enclosures intended to keep manure from reaching areas used by visitors.
Cook said adults were no longer allowed inside the animal pen with children, a practice that had been permitted years earlier.
The fair was scheduled to continue through Oct. 28.