Fair Trip 2015 This year’s Fair Trip 2015 was a new kind
of adventure compared to our Fair trips over the past five years. This was a driving tour but “Fair folks” did have an opportunity to fly in and out of certain points to make the trip a little shorter. Can’t help but mention here that the Fair Trip concept was initiated by Happy Norris with the Lake County Fair when he served his second term as the Fed- eration President in 2012. This year’s trip covered seven days and
over 3000 miles (with the last leg a 26 hour straight drive from Allentown to Florida), visiting three great Fairs and two additional fairgrounds along the way. Our first stop was the relatively new
Meadow Event Park home of the State Fair of Virginia. Marlene Pierson-Jolliffe and her staff treated us to a hamburger cook-out and a tour of the grounds and facilities. Marlene is past Chair of the IAFE, and has settled into her new position in Virginia following many years as manager of the West Virginia State Fair. The grounds are massive and beautiful. Meadow Event Park is the former home of Triple Crown winner Secretariat. Our next stop saw us at opening day of the Maryland State Fair. The MSF Agri-plex building is 5 acres under roof filled with live-
Ray Hoffman, Manager of The Great Allentown Fair and Beverly Gruber, gave us a warm welcome on a “very busy” night. Opening night is a terrible time to visit a Fair but it was the only time we could work it into the schedule. Glad we did! (L to R): Paul Davis, Lee Stokes, Pat Cookson, Happy Norris, Ray Hoffman, Rhonda Ward, Tom Umiker, and Beverly Gruber.
stock and agricultural exhibits. It was great to see Federation associate members Don and Kathy Deggeller. They have provided the MSF midway for decades. The Maryland State Fair is located just outside Baltimore in Timonium Md. The 100 plus year old fair- grounds includes a horse racetrack and is surrounded by city. Long time Fair family members Andy Cashman, Becky Brashear and Robert Fogle were tremendous hosts. On our arrival they met
with us and gave an overview of the Fair followed by a Maryland crab cake and steak dinner that was unforgettable. One of this year’s featured exhibit areas that our group particularly enjoyed was the equestrian exhibit featuring information, activities and live horses for the public to enjoy. Paul Davis and Happy Norris came away from the exhibit with a greater appreciation for horses. Ask them about it. We spent an entire day at the New York State Fair and really needed two more to see it all. “Massive” is probably the best way to
describe most of the Fair. Some of the large buildings are approaching or are over 100 years old. Multi storied exhibit buildings are filled with entries of all kinds. Special thanks to Federation associate member Frank Zaitshik with Wade Shows for hosting lunch and giving the group a behind the scenes look at the show’s electronic ticketing system. The last Fair that we visited was the Great Allentown Fair operating in downtown Allentown Pennsylvania for 163 years. It was
“Dollar Day” at the Fair and the grandstand acts were Def Leppard and Styx. Fairgoers came out in very large numbers. The Fair provided something for everyone! Even though we “hit” them on Opening Night, Ray Hoffman and Beverly Gruber extended us the warmest welcome! One last note about our trip. The trip wasn’t all about Fairs. As we
made our way from one Fair to the next we all agreed that each person in the van would get a “personal preference” choice as a sightseeing stop. This proved to be most interesting! Our side stops included the following……
..an apple orchard, ma-
chinery dealer, farm equipment manufacturing plant tour, Amish live- stock auction, Glen Falls State Park, a State penitentiary and two NASCAR tracks! Trip participants were Lee Stokes with the Citrus County Fair; Rhonda Ward and Pat Cookson with the Collier County Fair; Lisa Hinton, Executive Director of the Federation; Happy Norris with the Lake County Fair; Paul Davis with the Florida Strawberry Festival; and Tom Umiker, this year’s Federation President. Guess who chose which of the above side trips!! It goes without saying that we had a great trip and brought home a lot
of great ideas and pictures to share. A special thanks to each and every Fair and person along the way that made this a “trip to remember”!
The last Fair we visited was the Allentown Fair in Pennsylva- nia. From there several members of the group flew home while the rest “trekked” it back in the van……with a straight 26 hour ride! Left to right – Tom Umiker, Pat Cookson, Lee Stokes, Rhonda Ward, and Happy Norris. (Where’s Paul?)
FAIRCRACKER-FALL 2015 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48