In Which We Make New Friends at the Fair!

We have a wonderful, very famous county fair that takes place for about a week out of each year, in late August. And that is the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair. It is called an encampment because people actually go and live there for that week.

Some stay in RVs, while others (the lucky few) stay in tents on the fair grounds. People bring in all the accoutrements of home: beds, TVs, tables, chairs, appliances. It is amazing to see. Unbelievable, almost, the amount of civilization (and sometimes the sheer number of people) they can pack into an old-fashioned tent!

Tent spaces are very desirable but difficult to obtain; and in fact, they are handed down from generation to generation. There is a waiting list of about 500 people, and they are not accepting any more names for the list because, as one lady told us, "that would give you too much hope."

Someone we know - the official artist of the Grange Fair, who used to be a coworker of mine - told us that his brother, on the waiting list for 23 years, finally got a tent space at the fair this year. And that he himself had seen, that very day, a family with a tiny toddler of about two or three years of age, trying to arrange a future marriage for that toddler with a toddler of a family that had a tent at the fair - just so they could marry into a tenting spot! (One presumes - hopes - they were joking, but to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure!) Truly, a Grange Fair tenting spot must be the most coveted real estate in Centre County.

I have a very dear friend who used to work with me, who moved away quite a few years ago. She lives in the Lancaster area now, a few hours away, but every year, we meet at the fair for an evening of fun and food. (Read about last year's adventure here.) We meet in mid to late afternoon (this year, at 3:30 by the main gate) and stay through the evening, usually till about 9:30 or 10 pm, occasionally even later. (Though I admit that the year I got home at 11:30, it really kicked my butt - and I had real trouble getting out of bed for work the next morning!) Sometimes she brings one of her two daughters along, one year her mom too. This year it was just my dear friend, her curly-haired two-year-old, and me. What a wonderful time we had! Three gals on a mission for fun!

I took many pictures, and it was difficult to choose just one for today. Should I show you the food? The marvelous food? The fried vegetables? The peach dumplings with cinnamon ice cream? The soft tacos? The monkey bread (cinnamon rolls) with icing?

Or should I show you the animals, which made us laugh into hysterics? The pigs, the goats, the sheep, the bunnies, the cows? After they clean up the animals for show, some exhibitors dress the animals in little suits to keep them from getting dirty again before the next day's competitions: and so we got to see sheep a few pens down from these two in the photo, dressed in camouflage suits (what my friend quickly deemed their "cami jammies"). Which is a wonder to behold, friends: sheep! in cami jammies! Worth the price of admission just for that sight alone!

And here is where I admit that my absolute favorite picture of the day was possibly the one I took of my friend's daughter, when one of the goats quite unexpectedly stuck its head out through its gate right in her face, and my friend's little girl turned, just howling (with delight possibly mixed with a bit of fear), her mouth a big round O? Now that was a priceless moment!

Then there were the displays: neat rows upon rows of canned goods, baked goods, crafts, veggies, photos, projects, collections, toys, hand-sewn items. Some of them dripping with ribbons. First place, second place, honorable mention.

We walked through the tenting area, ran into an old friend or two, and saw what is the defining feature of this fair, which is to say the encampment: rows upon rows of old-fashioned tents, each up against the next, all full of stuff, full of people . . . the people who live there for one week each year. Yes, they get to live at the fair!

Then there are the little booths and tents that sell things. Everything you can imagine! And I would embarrass myself if I told you all of what I have bought some years. For I have bought jewelry, and stuffed animals, and Tupperware containers galore, and tiny glass menagerie creatures, and sparkly crystals, and clothing, and shoes, and hardware, and Christmas gift bags, and signs, and prints, and purses, and shepherd's hooks, and wool socks, and lawn balls, and children's toys, and novelties of every kind.

The weather for our visit started out hot and muggy. As we sat on a sunny bench eating our first snack of the day - fried veggies dipped in ranch dressing - it was so hot, I thought I would die. But as we walked around, and got into more of the shade, and had cool drinks (homemade lemonade and homemade limeade, for starters), and as the evening wore on, it became more bearable, but still quite humid.

Thunderstorms were predicted, and I prayed they would hold off, for I wasn't sure what I'd do with my camera if it poured - my car being parked several blocks away. But we were fortunate. While I saw a few flashes in the sky at one point, the rain never came. Until the very, very end, after we said our good-byes, with hugs all around.

And I got in my car and headed for home. Ten minutes from home, the rain began. And sitting in my car, with my camera full of pictures of our happy day, I listened to the soft rain . . . and I smiled. For these . . . these are the good times. And you need to seize them and appreciate them when they come!

Good-bye, my dear friend. Good-bye, beautiful daughter-of-friend. What a wonderful time we had! And I'll see you again next year . . . at the fair!

The song to accompany this scene of two of the sheepish friends we made at the fair is Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, with Scarborough Fair, from the concert in Central Park, NYC, which was filmed in September of 1981.