Trisha Spry has been parking cars for more than 20 years at her home during the Washington State Fair in Puyallup.
She’s one of many homeowners who turn their lawns into temporary parking lots to make some extra money and to help fairgoers find parking downtown each September.
“I probably will continue to do this until my last day because my regulars like me, I guess,” she told a News Tribune reporter this month, laughing.
This year, the rules for Spry and other homeowners who parked cars during the fair were different, following an ordinance the Puyallup City Council passed.
Anyone who runs a temporary parking lot during the fair has to get a free license. They’re also required to give customers a paper with the address where they parked.
Puyallup Police Chief Scott Engle told the council that officers often spend time at the end of the night helping fairgoers find their vehicles. Requiring lot owners to give customers the address is meant to cut down on that.
Spry said many customers don’t want to take the paper. They’d rather save it in their phones.
She makes sure to hand it to them, though.
“I’ve been doing that,” Spry said. “I go by the rules.”
In the past, temporary lots were supposed to get a $37.50 license each year, according to the city’s code, but it wasn’t enforced for smaller lots. As part of the new rules, the city made the license free.
City officials went door-to-door during the 2024 Spring Fair to explain the new requirements and tell homeowners that enforcement would start during the Washington State Fair later in the year.
City spokesperson Eric Johnson told The News Tribune that the city issued 13 permits in 2023. Under the new rules in 2024, the city issued 102. He identified three reasons for the increase: It’s free now, the city made the process easier and faster, and the Police Department spoke to homeowners about the changes in the spring.
Enforcement is largely complaint-based, and lot owners who don’t get a license face a $250 fine.
“If our Police Department receives a complaint, then they will investigate and take action from there,” Johnson said via email. “… we have not received any complaints regarding the fair temporary parking licenses.”
What about next year?
Spry thinks the permits are OK, though she and other homeowners told The News Tribune they’re skeptical that the city will continue offering the licenses for free.
“They didn’t cost any money this year, but we’re wondering what’s going to happen next year and the following years,” Spry said.
She wonders if “they’re going to want to know how much money we make, and things like that.”
The principal of it bothers her.
“I feel as a property owner, since we’ve been paying for so long on our houses, that we shouldn’t have to put up with having to go get permits and things like that,” she said.
Asked about the possibility that the city might charge for licenses down the road, Johnson said via email: “I cannot speak to what-if scenarios. What I can say is if the city decides to start charging for the licenses, that is a policy decision that would need to go before the City Council.”
Daniel Sandana, who parks cars at his home on Fourth Street Southeast near Ninth Avenue Southeast said he would stop offering his lawn to fairgoers if the city starts charging for permits.
“This is a side job for a lot of people around here that produces some extra income,” he said. “And I feel like as property owners we’re doing the fair a service by allowing people to park on our property, and if the city tried to in any way appropriate some of those funds, whether it’s some sort of tax or requiring us to get permits that are unreasonably priced, then that would affect my decision to park cars in the future.”
This year, he said, it’s working out fine. It’s what the city might do in the future that concerns him.
“So far, it’s kind of business as usual,” he said. “I was surprised to have the requirement to get the permit, pleasantly surprised to see that it was free, but also disturbed in that there was a DOR (Department of Revenue) registration number attached to it, which kind of makes me feel like it’s a segue into something different down the road, whether it’s next year or the year to follow.”
Some residents parking cars downtown told The News Tribune that the fair owns and rents out homes near the fairgrounds and parks cars on those properties during the fair, in addition to the fair’s official lots.
Public records show that nine of the 102 temporary parking lot licenses the city issued this year were to the Washington State Fair, for various addresses near the fairgrounds.
The News Tribune asked fair spokesperson Stacy Van Horne how many homes the fair owns/leases out downtown, what the fair parking arrangement looks like for those properties, and how the city’s licensing requirement was working out for the fair.
“This story was done earlier this year, and we deferred to the city for comment,” Van Horne said via email, apparently referencing The News Tribune’s reporting about the City Council passing the ordinance earlier this year.
‘Super slow this year’
Pepe Obaya told The News Tribune this is his fourth season parking cars at his home at 616 3rd St. SW during the fair, and that he’s noticed fewer visitors this year.
“Super slow this year,” he said. “I mean, stupid slow. I’m sad to say that.”
He said he’d park maybe 40 cars a day in past years, and that he’s parking closer to 30 a day this year.
His theories are that the economy is down and that prices at the fair are “extremely expensive.”
The fair advertised that some vendors are offering $10 meals on weekdays as part of a new program this year.
Obaya said he also watches the ticket sales for the fair concerts, and that the shows aren’t selling out, though Matchbox Twenty came close.
“They don’t have the draw that they used to,” he said about the fair box office.
He also wonders about the marketing. One of his coworkers was surprised to learn the fair was going on.
He hasn’t had any trouble with the licensing requirements for his lot, though.
“It’s been super simple,” he said.
He said he’s always handed out coupons to customers with the address of the lot, anyway. He just needs more customers to give them to.
If you want to beat the crowds, he said, it’s not a bad year to do the Puyallup.
“Now is the time to go,” Obaya said.
Spry has also noticed fewer cars near her home at 614 11th Ave. SE in recent years. The way the city routes traffic for the fair these days, she doesn’t get as many fairgoers by her lot as she used to.
“I wish it was like the olden days where I used to have a lot of backups, but they seemed to have started controlling the traffic a little bit more,” she said.
She said she and others in her neighborhood wish officials would build a wall behind the homes on their street to protect them from state Route 512 traffic. They’re right against the busy road, and a barrier would help with exhaust and noise, especially during events at the fairgrounds, she said.
“That’s another subject,” she said.
Being able to make a little money parking cars, she and other homeowners said, is a way to make up for the traffic the fair brings to their neighborhood each year.
Source Agencies
