The restrooms in the Dairy Cattle Building of the New York State Fair. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

Geddes, N.Y. — Yes, you read that headline correctly. This is a story about bathrooms at the New York State Fair.

Consider this the natural follow-up to all those articles about fair food. Look, we all end up needing a toilet at the fair, so we’re here to give you the inside poop on where to take care of business.

All toilet puns aside, potty maintenance at the fairgrounds is big business. “The state fair has always been serious about keeping the bathrooms clean,” said Dave Bullard, a spokesman for the State Fair.

During the fair’s busiest hours, more than 100 attendants are onsite to keep the stalls and urinals clean and the porcelain sparkling. Many have been doing this for years. Many bring in amenities to make the bathrooms special: mints, lotions, hand sanitizer and air freshener.

“People take a lot of pride in coming here,” said Paul Basile of Green Event Ninjas, one of the cleaning crews here. “There are people who have been coming for 12 years, and are like ‘I always do this bathroom.’”

Here are some of the exceptional water closets we visited while roaming the State Fair this week.

Johnny Taylor, the attendant in the men's room at the Eatery Building at the New York State Fair. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

It sounds like a party going on in this men’s room. Johnny Taylor, the new attendant here, is playing some fun R&B tunes on his portable stereo. It put smiles on the steady stream of customers here who had just dined at one of the vendors outside.

The seven stalls, five urinals and five sinks are pristine.

“I’m a neat freak,” Johnny said. “I treat this bathroom here just as I would the bathroom at home.”

You’re darn tootin’ he does.

Louis White, the men's room attendant in the Chevy Court pavillion. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

Louis White, 72, is among those longtime Ninjas here. He maintains the men’s room inside the pavilion at the rear of Chevy Court. He’s gotten to know his customers over the years, and they reward his smile and regular greetings with some spare change.

“I appreciate each and every people who comes through here,” Louis said as a lunchtime customer handed him a crumpled dollar bill. “The folks who come here are almost always kind and polite.”

This particular lavatory sees heavy traffic at least twice a day, almost always after the 1 p.m. concert and the evening show. It features two entrances with a filling station for your water bottle between. Inside it has eight urinals, nine toilet stalls and seven sinks. Pretty much any time you visit, you’ll find Louis wiping down the sinks or pushing the mob.

The bathrooms at the Center of Progress of the New York State Fair are surrounded by moss. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)

The women’s bathroom is the star here. Enter the Center of Progress from the northwest entrance into a shady glen of potted trees and creeping vines where the environmental and energy reps have set up their booths.

A little ways in you’ll find the women’s restroom door in a wall of green moss. Touch it; it’s real. The actual bathroom is just a couple of stalls, but the attendant has kept it clean and even set up a bouquet of red roses.

Stop and smell those roses.

Sisters Debbie Reed (left) and Yolanda Whaley are the stars behind the scene in the Horticulture Building women's restroom in the at The New York State Fair. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)

Sisters Yolanda Whaley and Debbie Reed have the 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. attendant shift at this bathroom, and they couldn’t be nicer. Swing by to say hi, or to grab a tampon or pad from this clean, albeit small, powder room.

Is this the best restroom at the fair? “This is the one,” said Reed.

The toilet trailer along the Midway rides at the New York State Fair. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)

We stopped into one of the bathroom trailers by the rides. To our delight, they’re not so bad. The Expo Center is right there, so if you need a gender-neutral or family bathroom, head there. But in a pinch, the trailers are a good option.

They’re actually pretty clean and modern, so don’t be grossed out by the whole “toilet trailer” thing.

The bathrooms in the Expo Center in the middle of the New York State Fair. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)

Speaking of the Expo Center, this is on par with the MQ-9 Reaper and UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopter on display inside. It’s clean, modern and sleek.

Of course it’s clean. This is the newest building on the fairgrounds. It’s air conditioned, so it got a lot of traffic on Monday.

Atem Shol (left) and Angel Mendez keep the men's room clean at the Dairy Cattle Building of the New York State Fair. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

The floors of this building are inherently among the dirtiest of the Fair. Yet the bathroom is sparkling. We can thank Atem Shol and Angel Mendez, two Corcoran High School juniors. They get moved from john to john, but on Wednesday, they were doing their best to keep up with the dirty foot traffic.

“I say hi to each person who comes in here, and I clean up right when they leave,” Angel said.

There’s not much to the lone men’s room here. Just two urinals, two sinks and one stall. They were spotless, though.

The men's room next to the Tully's Draft House next to Gate 1 at the New York State Fair. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

It’s always good to make a first impression to fair-goers, especially when some of the customers could be a sitting United States senator. The restrooms here are often the first stop and the last stop for those visiting. We both visit often, as we frequent the Tully’s Draft House that’s connected to the restrooms.

You’ll enjoy six sinks, five urinals and a few stall. The rotating crew here regularly replenishes tiny bottles of hand sanitizer for you to take with you. They’ll tear paper towels from the large rolls and offer you a Jolly Rancher candy on your way out.

Jamil Braswell and Nashawn Trotman serve as greeters and janitors in a standalone restroom building on Restaurant Row at the New York State Fair. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

Restaurant Row was unusually busy last Saturday night. 13 Curves, a popular local classic rock cover band, was playing the stage at Bosco’s, and well over 100 people stayed late to eat, drink and be over-the-top merry.

It was only natural that the standalone bathroom building opposite the P-Z-O’s food stands saw heavy congestion. Jamil Braswell and Nashawn Trotman greeted each patron with a big hello and kept the countertops surrounding the six dry and the floors tidy.

“You gotta be on top of that stuff,” said Jamil, a Fowler High School student. “The same people will come back, and you want them to know that it’s a good place to go.”

During an 8-hour afternoon shift earlier this week, they took turns greeting each gentleman with a polite “Hello, sir” as the other manned the cleaning supplies.

The orange women’s bathroom in the 4-H building is, well, orange. (Jules Struck | jstruck@syracuse.com)

Had too much “Intense Milk” from the 4-H vending machines? Head to the pastel orange and green bathrooms at the end of the building. They’re well marked and way less stuffy than the bathroom building right outside across from World of Horses (although that one does have a gender-neutral bathroom while the one in the 4-H building does not).

Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here. Jules Struck writes about life and culture in and around Syracuse. Contact her anytime at jstruck@syracuse.com or on Instagram at julesstruck.journo.

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