Isai Ramirez sat nearly alone at the Oregon State Fair Friday morning in his booth full of colorful toys.

Vendors around him fled the first weekend of the fair after they were placed in what they described as a converted parking lot where sales plummeted compared to prior years.

Ramirez owns Cynthia’s Toys, and traveled 20 hours to the fair from Fresno, California, bringing with him $20,000 in merchandise. For more than 20 years, his booth has been in the same area of the fairgrounds, reliably drawing in customers and turning a profit.

But this year he was moved to the Sunny Side , a new kid-friendly section on the west side of the fairgrounds carved out of a parking lot. It is part of the fair’s 185-acre expansion to accommodate more vendors , fair organizers previously told Salem

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