Category: Volunteers

"the rain came down and out came the sun"

8/13/2024

and dried up all the rain.....

Haven't we all heard that nursery rhyme?
Truer words were never spoken.

Monday, August 5th, on our 'soft opening' it rained, a lot. But, the Cochranton Ministerium was able to hold a rainy Vesper service and present an achievement recognition award to Barb McCartney amidst sprinkles, showers, and wet bleachers. Jessica Snyder followed Vespers, opening the evening entertainment with gospel music, even leading to a rainbow in the sky as she sang!   Willie Barry joined Jessica on stage for the 2nd half of the evening and The Honky Tonk Twins sang their hearts out for a crowd that held on through the rain, under porch roofs and in the wet bleachers! 3 Cheers for all who stuck with us!

Tuesday, August 6th....it rained, it poured, and no one had time to snore. Some folks in the area recorded 5 or more inches of rain in their rain gauges. There was a deluge, more than once during the day. Cattle were sent home, sheep departed for home, and the bunnies evacuated from being under water. Thank goodness the cows have long legs, but we have photos of folks with water well above their knees in the cattle barn, people kayaking through the barn, and more. Tuesday it did not flood, it deluged from the sky. The creek did not come up, it was not ground water. It all came from the skies and flushed through the borough and the fairgrounds. We are thankful for volunteers who ran to help in the barns that were hit the hardest, who ran with buckets to save as many exhibits as possible in the home show building (the one that we know needs replaced) when the roof sprung leaks like a sieve. We are thankful for all who stuck it out and those who came to the fair anyway. We are thankful for those who took detours when roads were closed (one 2+mile stretch had multiple mud and rock-slides) to come to the fair. We are thankful for the volunteer first-responders of all branches who maintained safe traffic patterns and secured equipment to open up the roadways (only to do it again later in the day during repeated storms). We felt badly that the Clark Duncan Family Corn-a-ment had to be cancelled due to the continued rains, but safety first (and corn hole is harder to be played with floating boards!). We are thankful there was no loss of life at the fairgrounds and, to date, no reports of animals with related illnesses. Thankful to PA Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Fred Strathmeyer for presenting the Friend of the Fair Award to the family of Johanna Schneider. We are grateful for Julia Neville and her band who hung in with us, set up, ran sound check, and witnessed crazy torrential rains with us. Julia and her crew performed phenomenally and hats off to the sound guy who kept gear from being ruined! The horses were on higher ground and the goats and their humans hung in there, able to stay with us for the entire week. We are thankful fair-goers got to see some critters and pet sweet faces. We missed the cows, sheep, and bunnies, but we are happiest that they are all OK and not lost due to the rushing waters. (and wait til you see the photo of kayakers in the cow barn.... )

Wednesday, August 7th. Parade Day. Mixed clouds and sunshine breezes, and humidity from the residual water from Tuesday's rains, but it was a perfect day for a parade. A walk through the fairgrounds showed the damage done by the massive water that fell on Tuesday. Huge shout-out to the trash crew who had to deal with water that weighed down all the trash barrels and soggy trash. We are thankful for wise decisions to evacuate the cattle, sheep, and bunny tents. A mess to clean up, but life and safety outweigh the cleanup process. Some of us are still not sure how the Horse Department held the Pleasure Show with all the residual water/mud in the arena from Tuesday, but they did! -- And then the horses and their riders made it to the parade, looking beautiful (and not soggy)! Honored to have the family of Johanna Schneider represent her as Grand Marshal; Johanna passed away July 14th and had accepted the G.M. title in the spring. The parade saw a wonderful abundance of floats for the float contest this year! Chairs lined the streets in the early morning hours as people marked their favorite spots from which to watch the parade that evening, always a refreshing sight to see! Michael Christopher with his band performed on the main stage Wednesday evening to the delight of fair-goers who were ready to cast the prior rainy days aside and rock out! From color guards to baton twirlers in the parade, from bands to pageant royalty, the parade folks got to enjoy everything the fair has to offer! Our thanks to all who join us from all over northwest Pennsylvania! Vendors, food and games alike had pulled things back together from Tuesday and fair food abounded! Inflatable rides and pony rides were on tap for the littles and the fair was back on track!

Thursday, August 8th.   Our Horse Department wisely decided to move the Friday Game Show to this afternoon (seeing rain from an Atlantic hurricane predicted for our neck of the woods Friday morning). We improvised, we were winging it, realizing that our planned program of events was no longer planned at all, but that we were overcoming every obstacle thrown our way. (Oh goodness, we're NOT comparing ourselves the USMC, overcoming, adapting, improvising, but we do like those words!) The November Blue Band joined us on stage, all the way from Nashville and rocked the night away! The band members hail from all over western PA and love to come home and do a PA summer tour. In fact, they had hoped to play for us in 2023, but our available dates did not coincide last year, so we planned for 2024! We are glad this year worked out! Tom Atkins, from WJET-TV in Erie joined us to do live weather broadcasts from the fairgrounds; Tom and his cameraman are always welcome (even sampling the yummy fair food!)!

Friday, August 9th.   The Woodsman Competition ran long and was filled with contests and a multitude of competitors!   Hats off to new folks, older folks, season folks, and beginners! Thanks to all who made sure the contest was still able to happen after the crazy week! Brett Allen Morgan took the stage at 7pm for his one-man high-energy show, filled with patriotism, faith, a huge variety of music, and serious dedication!   Veterans were recognized by Brett and we thank him immensely for that! A group of his 'Barnyard Bunchies' joined the crowd too -- Brett has a television show on the Old CBS Network via Rumble, and several of his viewers/followers made the trek to Cochranton!

Saturday, August 10th. Our final day. Abundant sunshine. Teeka K-9 Tricks joined the Spin-ette Twirling Club on stage in the morning to bring their parade talents to the fairgrounds. By 1pm, the pedal tractor pull was underway on the stage with some serious competition for those ages 3-10. Those littles gave the tractor and sled a true workout! Sadly, the fire department returned to the station without a water battle. Maybe after Tuesday's rain, everyone was afraid to get wet? We're still not sure what happened there. The horses headed home in the afternoon and the grounds almost seemed quieter, but not quite. In lieu of the garden tractor pull, our NEW Antique Equipment Department held a tractor parade around the arena!   Exhibits in the home show building were picked up dung the evening and we were thrilled to welcome DANJO to the stage at 7pm too!   They replaced our 2023 Saturday night act for us this year and they rocked the night away, taking a break at just the right time so that everyone could enjoy the fireworks at dusk! DANJO returned to the stage, featuring Barefoot Joe and Danny Kensy, never missing a beat through the closing of the fair.

Sunday, August 11th......True, the 'fair' closed on Saturday night, but our volunteers..... They were there Sunday cleaning up, and Monday, and Tuesday. Did you know there's a lot of work that happens after the fair, not just before the fair? It takes a year to plan each years fair, and we begin as the fair is winding down (we make a suggestion list on a white board to start with). Any leftover hay, straw, and sawdust must be moved (it's a wonder any was left after the Tuesday rains). Pens, stalls, gates, crates, cages are dismantled and stowed away for the next year. The final trash pickup and 'policing of the grounds' is done (even with lots of trash cans, some folks are unkind and still litter). Books and paperwork continue to be balanced so that premiums can be issued. Lest we forget any name, no specific names are listed for any department, just know that we love our team of volunteers who rose above the occasion this year! We've had at least one volunteer in the hospital, another few with health concerns so they had to scale back their duties, and everyone who's totally exhausted. Think of them, if you will, as they returned to work this week, their regular family and other activities. Did you know that many who volunteer take and spend their vacation at the fair helping out? They don't travel far away, they help in their community.
Sponsors, Donors, Givers. Thank you! Without all of you, we could not keep the fair flourishing.

The 2024 fair theme is "Flourishing with Opportunity Rooted in Agriculture" -- our volunteers (of the fair and all those organizations who set up their tents/booths/stands/etc for the week of the fair truly keep the fair flourishing, while our participants keep us rooted in agriculture. The parade theme was "Communities that Flourish" and this year, our fair proved that our community is flourishing!   We're not going to let a little rain ruin our parade, and it did not ruin our fair! Our community members, volunteers, exhibitors, and visitors allowed us the opportunity to flourish once again!
Thank you!

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