Consider no summer complete without a visit to the Colorado State Fair. The fair provides entertainment and experiences one cannot find at our national and state parks or our state’s campgrounds, rivers, lakes, streams and ski slopes combined.

The fair runs from Friday through Sept. 4 at the Colorado State Fair grounds, 1001 Beulah Ave., Pueblo. Gate admission is $15. Children 5 to 12 are $7. Ages 4 and under are free with any adult.

Combine Colorado’s natural and human-made recreation assets with the state’s athletic activities and it’s hard to conjure a place anything like this. Even in that context, we can think of nothing else that combines rodeo, rock concerts, country music, racing pigs, funnel cakes, snow cones, livestock auctions, dozens of food and merchandise vendors, death-defying carnival rides, performances and surprises in one festive environment.

Throughout the country, state fairs celebrate agriculture and rural lifestyles. They typically open near the end of the summer growing and harvest season and remind us of where our food comes from – whether we procure it at Whole Foods or a public food pantry. Anyone who eats real food can better understand its origin by visiting the fair and its hundreds of livestock and produce exhibits.

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Among the fair’s highlights is the annual bidding competition that pits business leaders and donors from Denver against their peers from Colorado Springs.

Organized as the Denver Rustlers and the Pikes Peak Posse, each group raises donations from participants and spends the money buying livestock from more than 120 Colorado 4-H children. The auction raises millions over the years and helps 4-H members attend college or pursue other constructive interests.

The sale has become a notable political and business networking event, with the state’s top business leaders and politicians arriving on planes and buses for the jovial contest, lunch and informal strategy discussions.

We need the state fair, and we need it to flourish, because Coloradans should value and support the diverse lifestyles and landscapes that make this state extraordinary.

Of Colorado’s nearly 6 million residents, more than 86% live in urban communities – mostly along the Front Range. That compares with dense East Coast states, such as New York, Maryland and Connecticut. By contrast, 62% of Wyoming residents live in cities (none of them large), and 64.6% of Oklahomans.

Having among the country’s largest urban-rural disparities in numbers, a lot of farmers, ranchers and homesteaders feel trampled by urban majorities.

The conflict shows up when urban legislators – with the advantage of numbers – force a one-size-fits-all sex education course on the rest of the state. Or, when the war on fossil fuels shutters a mine.

The schism appears when the governor tells the Colorado Department of Agriculture to prioritize fake processed “meat” in a state that depends on beef – derived from cattle – as its top export, exchanged for the imported money we spend. The conflict heats up when urban voters choose to unleash wolves in rural areas, where the predators kill wildlife and pets.

Urban and rural Coloradans could shrink this divide if they enjoyed the fair together. It is the best place for urban and rural Coloradans to see each other, break bread, communicate, find common ground and promote mutual understanding. If known, our commonalities dwarf our differences. Yet, when these paths never cross, we foment division that cannot move us forward.

Don’t miss this annual rite of passage from summer to fall. Enjoy the food, fellowship, rides, music and seemingly endless festivities at this year’s state fair.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information about the fair, visit coloradostatefair.com/; for more information about the Denver Rustlers visit denverrustlers.org/; for more information about the Pikes Peak Posse visit pikespeakposse.com/

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board