Despite rain, large crowd attends fair’s opening night
The little rain that fell did little to dampen the spirits of those who turned out for the opening of the 48th annual Fayette County Fair on Thursday. “The rain seems to be semi-traditional,” said Fair Board President Bill Jackson.
The short shower hit the fairgrounds just before the opening ceremonies.
“It helped settle down the dust,” Jackson said, noting that the rain delayed no activities.
During the opening ceremonies, state Rep. Pete Daley toasted the fair as the “best fair” of all the places he has traveled, much to the approval of the crowds. He expressed his belief that hosting fairs helps people to “pause and reflect on what America is all about.”
“Without farming and their fairs, the world would not be fed,” Daley said.
As a slightly louder emphasis to his speech, the antique tractors drove past in a sedate line to join their place in the opening day parade, which is traditionally the firemen’s parade.
“The longest firemen’s parade ever,” Jackson said about the slightly delayed array of fire trucks and emergency vehicles.
This year, 54 fire trucks from all over the area drove in the parade line.
In the education tent, Melissa Mikulka with the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School watched the parade of trucks as it paused.
“There is more parade than room,” she said.
Jackson agreed that if the turnout from the fire departments continues to be so high in the future, the parade route will be altered to give the departments more room to shine.
Inside the education tent, representatives from area schools and colleges were preparing for the guest speaker of the night. Each night of the fair one of the featured educators will give a presentation. Opening night featured a talk by Anne Loya, manager of Early Head Start for Fayette County, on the benefits and guidelines of the Head Start program.
Tonight, fairgoers will be treated to a different sort of presentation, as Penn State English professor Fred Adams will take to the stage with some of his coffee house students.
Once each month, Adams sponsors a coffee house night at the Fayette Campus, where students get the chance for two hours to read poems, sing songs, play music and otherwise share in their talents in an open forum, said Sue Quinn, campus program coordinator for continuing education.
Adams plans on running the open coffee house styled session from 6 to 9 p.m.
A certain draw for opening night was the ever-popular fair queen competition. This year, nine candidates vied for the title, with last year’s queen, Megan Regula of Brownfield, on hand to crown the new queen, cousin Christie Regula.
The daughter of Ed and Toni Gail Regula, Christie graduated from Laurel Highlands High School in 2001 and is a pre-medicine student at Durham University in North Carolina. She is a lifetime 4-H member and has been involved with the fair for many years, showing lambs, beef cattle and pigs along with sewing and nutritional displays.
First runner-up for the fair queen title was Dana Duncan of Dunbar, and the award for Miss Congeniality was presented to Melissa Kurtz of Uniontown. Other contestants included Amanda Springer of Vanderbilt, Brandy Nicholson of Smithfield, Alex Bryner of Vanderbilt, Becky Golden of Smock, Danielle Grimplin of Vanderbilt and Deana Liptak of Grindstone.
It turned out to be a big night for the Regula family. Jackson reported that Sara Regula, sister to Megan, was awarded the title of sheep and lamb queen.
Despite the historic tendency to have light attendance on opening night, the parking lots quickly filled with people coming to see the sights, ride the rides and eat the traditional foods. Though receipts for the night hadn’t been counted, Jackson noted that attendance was brisk.
Lucille Coughenour with the St. Aloysius Church in Dunbar said she was busy on opening night working at the church’s food booth, which she has done the past 22 years.
“We’ve got good people working here, and we’ve got a good turnout. And, on occasion, they let me tell them what to do,” she joked.
Fellow worker Dennis Martin said the real goal of the St. Aloysius booth is to create a feeling of fellowship in the community by participating and within the congregation by pulling together for the cooking.
And to show how well they work, Coughenour quickly advertised that starting tonight, the church will offer dinner specials at $5 a dinner.
Also showing their spirit of community, the Laurel Highlands Mustang booth displayed a lot of spirit, as the cheerleaders worked the red, white and blue food booth. Each group in the high school takes turns working the fair as a fund-raiser, said mother and booster worker Christina Bolen.