The "Join The Tradition" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I are visiting with friends Jere and Just Sue in State College for the weekend.  Saturday, and our mission today was a trip to the 145th Annual Centre County Grange Fair in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.  We have made several journeys from Lancaster to State College for this event, but never tire of the excitement, good times and plenty of good food during fair week.  Picked up a brochure and read that the fair takes you out of the day to day bustle, to a time when life moved at a slower pace.  And...that's exactly what it did for the four of us on this beautiful day in late August, 2019.  Sitting a short distance away are 2,500 canvas tents and RVs which seem to spring up overnight the day before the fair opened a little over a week ago.  Families and friends reunite at these homes-away-from home reunions and tend to develop lasting relationships with campsite neighbors.  The four of us are just a minuscule number of the close to a quarter million visitors to the fair every year.  Food, equine events, carnival rides, farm animals, music festivals, motorsports, 4H contests, exhibit competitions and naming of the annual Queen are all parts of the Grange Fair.  To try and take in all of that on one afternoon is impossible, so we just wandered around the 264 acres of mass confusion and humanity for the afternoon.  I enjoyed snapping a few photographs to share with you of this year's Grange Fair.  Hope you enjoy them!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This cute little girl was interested in my camera.
Click on images to enlarge them. 

Cattle are naturally part of the farm scene at any Grange Fair.

Would love to be a judge for one of these competitions!

At first I thought these were strawberries, but found they were peppers.

Winners in the Gourds category. 

Plenty of flowers to enjoy.  Even those that didn't win were fun to view.

I'm not sure if this woman had real or artificial flowers.

16 year old Anna took second place in the painting category.

12 year old Audrey made this dish collage and won 1st place. 

My wife enjoyed this display the most!

How can anyone not pick this poor soul for first place?

Cheyanne Storm won first place with this photograph.

Jane from Spring Mills won a first place with this Amish Buggy photograph.

Joy from Centre Hall took 1st place in the Domestic Animal colored photograph category.
I, too, really enjoyed this photograph.  Good choice for 1st place!

Amish enjoy visits to the Grange Fair.

A very unique chess set made by Jean of State College which won a first place ribbon.

Chris from Pleasant Gap made this beautiful leather gun belt and holster.

Sue taking a selfie of her and Jere while my wife looks on.  We are sitting in
a tractor-pulled wagon which serves as transportation around the fairgrounds.

A sea of automobiles, campers and tents at the Grange Fair in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.

There were commercial stands where you could buy items.  These are small angels
with a few flags that would glow after hit by the sun.

Not sure what this chicken is doing in this photograph.  Perhaps the chicken dance.

One of the many aisles with tent homes along both sides.  Vacation for many!