Fairgoers reunite at Greene County Fair
Serving one of the first of what promised to be many baskets of food doled out to people during the Greene County Fair, Kristy Vliet was looking forward to the people she’d meet again this week.
“I just get to see a bunch of people I don’t see all the time,” said Vliet, owner of 5 Kidz Kandy in Waynesburg. “You get to know a lot of the other vendors, the other people who come year after year. Everybody comes out to the fair at least once, usually. It might be the only time you get to see somebody.”
The booths, rides and livestock stalls that facilitate those reunions every year were filling in during the early afternoon Monday, the fair’s first full day.
Jennifer Gregorich was visiting her cousins in the livestock barn. She’s made a habit of going to the fair for more than 40 years.
“My grandparents had animals, so I love to come see the animals, eat some food, see the fruits of everyone’s labors, because this is hard work,” she said. “These kids work hard.”
It was still a year of firsts for some people. Steven Barnhart, 8, of New Freeport was brushing his heifer, Maggie, after she’d been secured in the stall at the livestock barn.
Though it’s Steven’s first year competing, they’d been coming to the fair for a “very long” time, said his father, Terry Barnhart. It’s something he’s been around all his life.
“He was one of them you put on your hip and do what you’ve got to do,” Terry said. “He didn’t miss nothing. And that’s why he does what he does today, because he’s seen it all. He’s not scared of it.”
Raising the cows takes “a lot of work, and a lot of patience,” Terry said, pointing to someone who had been there since 8:30 a.m. clipping the cows’ tails.
Steven’s already jumped into the work. His list of things he enjoys at the fair doubles as a to-do list: “Walking the animals, feeding them, watering them, showing them.”
Seeing so many children come out to the fair with the animals they’ve been raising makes him happy.
“If we don’t keep young kids in it, we don’t have the fair,” he said. “It’ll be gone. The more kids you get involved, the better it is.”
The fair continues through Aug. 9. Excitement set for Tuesday includes an Elvis Presley tribute performance, a mini-vendor fair and shows for dairy cattle, rabbit and market steer.