Wade Ingle, Colorado State University’s associate director of outreach and engagement, believes learning can and should take place anywhere – even at the Colorado State Fair.

“Just because you’re having a good time at the fair doesn’t mean you can’t learn a few things,” said Ingle, who, along with several CSU students, brought a custom-built, mobile virtual-reality lab to the fairgrounds for the second straight year.

The lab, called “Sci on the Fly,” is one of several State Fair displays that offer opportunities for career information, access to health resources or even healing.

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An outreach arm of CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, “Sci on the Fly” draws in onlookers with a display of skulls and bones from animals large and small. But the real show lies within a 37-foot trailer that’s kitted out with virtual reality headsets that allow viewers to experience some of the same human and animal biology programs that students use in the classroom.

Veterinary students run the show, inside and outside, Ingle said. “I’m just doing my best to stay out of the way.”

The aim, Ingle said, is to make young people aware of career opportunities in the field of veterinary medicine.

“We don’t recruit,” he said. “We just want to give young people the information. What they do with it is up to them.”

Jean Blackwell, a peer recovery specialist, staffed a tent for people dealing with substance abuse disorder – either through their own experiences, or a loved one’s. Each is traumatic in its own way, Blackwell said, and safe spaces to talk about addiction are few and far between.

“We want people to understand that recovery is not a scary thing,” she said as she offered Narcan and Kloxxado – opioid reversal agents – to passersby. “It’s OK to talk about it.”

At first glance, a tent run by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment looks like a swag buffet, with tote bags, sunglasses, lollipops and pens. But interested observers can also find condoms, COVID-19 treatment information and fentanyl test strips.

“We know people need these things,” said a volunteer who declined to give her name. “We also know that people are sometimes embarrassed to ask for them. So they don’t have to. They can talk to us, or they can just grab something and go, no questions asked.”

As part of its Shift into Safety initiative, the Colorado Department of Transportation provided an interactive experience that illustrates the dangers of impaired driving.

“In this kind of atmosphere, where alcohol is available, it’s important to remind people to make deliberate, safe choices before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle,” said CDOT representative Kyle Mitchell. “That’s the whole aim of the Shift into Safety program.”

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Onlookers are invited to try on a pair of “Fatal Vision” goggles that simulate what the world looks like for a person with a .15 blood alcohol count – nearly twice the legal driving limit. The wearer can then attempt a field sobriety test, which nearly everyone fails, Mitchell said.

“Scary, isn’t it?” he asked. “And it’s even scarier to think that someone might drive their car in that condition.”

Revelers could also don a virtual reality headset and attempt to “drive” in a similar state of impairment.

There’s plenty of room on the 102-acre fairgrounds for information and education as well as entertainment, Ingle said.

“Learning can be fun, too,” he noted.