PALMER -- Kathy Luchsinger made her booth of Alaska crafts a little more wheelchair friendly to Alaska fairgoers by screwing a piece of indoor-outdoor carpet into the ground, then smoothing things out with a few strips of duct tape.

It cost her about $5.

"There are plenty of ways to make areas more accessible. You don't have to spend a lot," she said.

Luchsinger, who operates the Red Barn Arts and Crafts booth, got a few "atta-girls" Tuesday from a group of volunteers and staff from Access Alaska, a nonprofit that works to improve access for Alaskans with disabilities.

The group is not happy with the continued failure of fair officials to enforce laws and their own policies requiring handicap access at fair events, and is flexing its muscle, working this week with fair officials to remind vendors that compliance is required, not optional.

Vendor and exhibit manager Pamella Meekin said accessibility has been a requirement for fair vendors for a long time -- it's been in the vendor handbook for 10 years, she said. But few vendors paid attention and fair organizers never enforced it.

Last year, after encountering one obstacle after another trying to get into booths, Access Alaska executive director Jim Beck said he got fed up.

"We all felt, without a doubt, that the accessibility had gotten worse," he said.

Beck and others from Access Alaska met with vendors last September and asked them to make their booths more accessible. They met with Meekin throughout the year and helped draft letters offering suggestions for ramps and reminding vendors of accessibility laws.

"The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) has been around 18 years. Handicap accessibility is not new. You're not taking it seriously," Beck said, recounting the meeting last year.

The 1992 law applies to public places, including temporary events such as fairs and festivals.

Meekin said fair organizers hope to get vendors to come into compliance without resorting to enforcement. But the new emphasis on accessibility this year did come with a threat: fix it by next year or don't come back in 2011.

In extreme cases, the Act can be enforced by filing a lawsuit, which has happened several times in Alaska.

"We need action. We don't need to have people ignoring it," Meekin said.

Some vendors complied with style, like Alice Smith at Denali Cream Puffs. She took out a screen on a small side window of her booth and installed a low shelf and sign for handicapped customers.

"It's the fair. Everyone should be able to do it," Smith said.

Beck said he was overjoyed to see his favorite cookie booth, Hoop'n Hula, had added a ramp up to its serving window.

"I'd want these cookies but I couldn't get up their step. People would be hanging out (blocking the porch poles), so I had nothing to grab on to. And I need these cookies -- a lot!" Beck said, laughing.

Another volunteer tested the ramp out with her motorized scooter. It was made with what looked like scrap wood, but it held up to the scooter test, and offered enough space for a complete turnaround. The sides of the ramp aren't protected, so someone in a chair could tumble off if they didn't notice they were at the edge. But it's an improvement, and means Beck and others with disabilities can be served the same as everyone else.

"To me, it's encouraging that at least they read their packet and took a shot at it," Beck said.

David Barton, Alaska representative for the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center in the Northwest, said compliance boils down to trying to provide the greatest number of people the greatest amount of access. He spent Monday and Tuesday at the fair measuring access ramps and talking to vendors who were setting up. With so many booths still shuttered two days before the fair, he said it was hard to estimate what percent had tried to provide better access. Many vendors made an effort, he said, but some attempts were downright dangerous.

"Part of the concern for the fair organizers is, they see people making an attempt but some of it is not sufficient," he said.

Like the plywood sheet laid over what looked like a cinder block outside a face-painting booth. Maybe it was just the first step in making a better ramp to the booth. If it was the final step, it doesn't cut it, Beck said.

"Just tell them to take it away," he said. "It's more unsafe than if there was nothing."

Barton said ramps aren't the only access choice. If a booth is selling raffle tickets, for example, it might be easier if employees come out of the booth and sell a ticket to a disabled customer. Or if a booth is too crowded for a wheelchair to get through, a vendor can offer to bring items out for the customer to examine.

Debra Pollard, a Palmer resident who uses a scooter to get around, said vendors who choose not to provide access are losing customers. She enjoys the fair, she said, but refuses to go in shops where no attempt at providing access is made.

"It's silly," she said. "It's money, people."

Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at www.adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her at 1-907-352-6709.

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