Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: The "GRANGE FAIR SPIRIT" Story

Tenting at the Grange Fair as it was years ago and still is to this day.

It was an ordinary day. Admiring the variety of tents on N Street at the Centre County Grange Encamp- ment and Fair. Every year during the last full week of August the Grange Fair tenters are in heaven. This year is the 140th anniversary of the fair and over 100,000 people will make a visit to the fair. There will also be another thousand or more people who will camp in tents or recreational vehicles on the many acres that make up the fair. Year after year the same families return to claim their little piece of paradise which is a green tent on a blacktop slab. The 1,000 tents were set up a few weeks before the fair by inmates from the State Correctional Institution at Rockview. The nine inmates are low-security inmates who are close to their release date and are glad to get some work experience outside the walls of the prison. They are paid 51 cents an hour for their time. Generations of farm families pass their sites along and it is tough to rent one of the 1,000 tents that are erected every year. If you would like to be a tenter you have to put you name on a waiting list that already contains the names of hundreds of families, some of whom have been on the list for over 25 years. 17 new sites were added this year to take the total to 1,000 and make 17 new families very happy. The tent rental fee for the fair week is $175 while RV spaces rent for $155-$175. It is said that the waiting list is yellowed and tattered as well as torn in places from years and years of people waiting their turn. The list currently holds 500 names which means that some may never get a chance to claim that treasured spot at the fair.

Carol and Just Sue look at the best decorated tent at the Grange Fair.

In honor of the 140th year of tenting, the Grange Fair brought back a decorating contest that had been dropped a few years ago. On the fair grounds there is also a hair salon, library, restaurant, showers and lots of toilets. Walking the aisles and aisles of lettered streets gave us an idea as to the artistic talent of the tent residents. Some have elaborate decorations with lights, fencing, deck chairs, artificial palm trees and lots of flowers for decoration. It has been said many times that every fair has animals, rides, blue ribbons and so forth, but only the Grange Fair has tents. Generations of families have returned to the fair for ..... well generations. It is a small town that exists for a week where you get to see your long lost cousin or lifelong friend once again. Well, it's time to show you some of the tents that we passed during our stay at the fair. I know the tents and fair may not seem like much to some of my readers, but the more years I go ..... I really think I get it ..... the reason why these people come back year after year after marvelous year. Yeah, I know it's family, tradition, community and on and on, but to me it all comes together in what I would call the GRANGE FAIR SPIRIT! Priceless!! Enjoy the photos. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.