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The Elkhart Project is at the fair!
That would be the Elkhart County 4-H Fair, which began Friday and runs through July 25. Along with all the attractions you would expect from one of the biggest county fairs in the country, members of our staff are on hand, manning our very own msnbc.com "booth" (actually two tents).
There are a few reasons why we're at the fair:
-- We want to introduce The Elkhart Project to people who may not be familiar with our reporting initiative, which aims to tell the story of the national recession through this hard-hit northern Indiana community.
-- We want to hear from the locals how they are getting by in these tough economic times and use their responses to inform our reporting going forward. NBC News' "Green Machine," a green-powered SUV with live-video capabilities, also will be parked nearby, giving NBC News and MSNBC Cable the opportunity to hear from our reporters and some of the interesting people we've met during our time in Elkhart.
-- We want to give something back to the community. Fairgoers who take the time to fill out a brief questionnaire will receive free personal portraits. Selections of these portraits also will be displayed via a real-time "Faces of the Fair" slideshow on a screen in the booth and may also be published in the Elkhart Project.
You'll hear more about goings-on at the fair in the days to come in this blog and in a report next week on how county fairs can act as economic barometers.
In the meantime, if you're attending the fair stop by and say "hi." We're just outside the 4-H Exhibition Hall, nestled up against a scarecrow exhibit, and just a stone's throw from Nedderman's Tip Steak stand and Rosie's taco stand. Look for the corn dog the size of a water heater, which graces a concession stand just two doors down.
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