County fairs abound across Pennsylvania this year after a long hiatus
At fairgrounds across Pennsylvania, you'll find rides, games of chance, fried foods and funnel cakes, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs, cows - and more.
County fairs have come back in a big way this summer, after many took a hiatus the past two years.
At fairgrounds across Pennsylvania, rides and games of chance, fried foods and funnel cakes, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs and cows, large vegetables and 4-H ribbons are back.
One of Pennsylvania’s oldest and biggest — the Bloomsburg Fair — like many in the commonwealth, was canceled in 2020. Traditionally one of the last fairs of summer, it came back last year after most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The 167th Bloomsburg Fair this year runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1.
One of the state’s smallest such events, the Cameron County Fair, stayed open during both summers of the pandemic. Held in the the least populated of the commonwealth’s 67 counties (2020 census population 4,547), that fair had attendance numbers low enough for the volunteer fair committee to handle, and they kept it going in 2020 by adhering strictly to all the health mandates, staying fully masked and six feet apart, even outdoors.
This year’s fair kicked off on Monday with Fair President Pat Kempher riding her green John Deer mower with a (green) stuffed frog on the steering wheel down the Main Street in Emporium, leading the annual “Tractor Parade” to the fairgrounds about a mile and a half outside of town.
“It is good to be normal,” she said, “Normal is fun.”
At this event, there are no noisy thrill rides, no rodeo or demolition derby. No monster trucks. But the small fair does offer family entertainment and “a place to exhibit great works of skillful craft and the fruits of agricultural labors.”
Alvin Lyon, 89, grows vegetables on his seven-acre farm. On a recent day, he was looking over the results of the judging: his offerings took first prize blue ribbons for carrots, squash, cabbage, and two different categories of cucumbers. His beets and green peppers each took second-place red ribbons.
There was also judging for baked goods; hays and grains; art, photography and needlecraft; and antique farm and lumbering equipment. The most beautiful baby, along with a court of fair royalty, were to be selected at the end of the week.
Opening night featured the “Cameron County Has Talent” show, and nightly competitions including “celebrity” goat milking, nail driving, and corn hole, with a Nerf battle for the kids (they bring their own guns and the fair committee provides the bullets).
Here are the dates of other fairs in the region:
Middletown Grange Fair: August 17-21 in Wrightsown, Bucks County.
Elizabethtown Fair: August 22-27 in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County
Northumberland County Fair: Aug. 24-27 in Sunbury, Northumberland County
Wyoming County Fair: Aug. 31-Sept. 5 in Meshoppen, Wyoming County
Allentown Fair: August 31-Sept. 5 in Allentown, Lehigh County
Denver Fair – Sept. 13-17 in Denver, Lancaster County
Southern Lancaster County Fair: Sept. 14-16 in Quarryville, Lancaster County
Oley Valley Community Fair – Sept. 15-17 in Oley, Berks County
Ephratha Fair: Sept. 20-24 in Ephrata, Lancaster County
Bloomsburg Fair: Sept. 23-Oct. in Bloomsburg, Columbia County
West Lampeter Community Fair: Sept. 28-30 in Lampeter, Lancaster County
New Holland Farmers Fair: Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in New Holland, Lancaster County
Manheim Community Farm Show: Oct. 3-7 in Manheim, Lancaster County
Dillsburg Community Fair: Oct. 10-15 in Dillsburg, York County