Sign of the Times, Ag Pioneer Dies & It's Wine and Food Time

Sign of the Times, Ag Pioneer Dies & It's Wine and Food Time. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. I can only hope this isn't a portent of things to come but the King County Fair in Enumclaw, Washington has had to scale back due to a shrinking budget. No carnival amusement rides or other high dollar entertainment. Instead you'll get local performers and a return to the fairs roots with more emphasis on 4-H exhibits, arts & crafts, animals and food. On second thought, maybe that's not such a bad thing. This is getting to be fair and festival time of the year and one event that has been growing in the last few years is in Prosser, Washington according to Susan Webber, president of the festival. WEBBER: It's an outdoor event, we're going to have 34 wineries and 12 food vendors and 2 microbreweries. It originally was to promote the wine industry in Prosser. They can expect 2 bands, 2 winery tours. The Prosser Wine & Food Fair has moved onto the grounds of the Washington State University Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC), just north of town. A pioneer in eastern Washington agriculture has died. Bud Mercer died late Wednesday after an illness. Mercer was a third generation farmer and rancher who was instrumental in bringing irrigation water to the region. He was 71. Now here's today's Washington Grange Report. (GRANGE) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.