Eight Days of Summer season Enjoyable at Pennsylvania’s Oldest Agricultural Fair | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

For greater than two centuries, the Washington County Agricultural Fair has been a beloved custom that brings collectively the perfect of rural heritage and summertime enjoyable. Now in its 227th yr, the truthful returns to the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday, August 9, with eight full days of agricultural showcases, family-friendly actions, dwell music, and grandstand favorites just like the Demolition Derby. As the oldest truthful in Pennsylvania–and one of many oldest within the nation–it continues to evolve whereas celebrating the group’s deep farming roots. We spoke with Wayne Hunnell, Vice President of the Fair Board, to get a behind-the-scenes take a look at what goes into planning the truthful and what guests can stay up for in 2025.

Each day, the truthful has a lineup of occasions, with the most important exhibits happening within the grandstand area within the night. Historically, the highest attended occasion on the truthful has been the School Bus Demolition Derby and School Band efficiency, which each occur on Wednesday, August 13.

“A few years ago, we had the marketing class from Carnegie Mellon do a marketing study on why people attended the fair, their main reason for coming, and what they liked the best. The top of the list was the livestock shows and being able to see the live animals. The second largest reason was for the fair food. For our area the derbies are always a big draw annually,” says Hunnell.

But final yr, a brand new addition to the truthful lineup got here near topping the attendance for School Bus Demolition Derby day–the rodeo. Up till 2024, the truthful had not held a rodeo for ten or extra years. It was so successful that the board introduced it again for 2025 and anticipates the occasion to be an enormous success once more.

The truthful shall be internet hosting a number of concert events with native expertise like Ruff Creek, Aaron Margaria, the Skyliners, and Bon Journey, and newcomer Morgan Gruber Acoustic Trio, Scott Blasey and Good Karma. The Washington County Agricultural Fair sometimes doesn’t schedule a big live performance for the grandstand area due to native competitors makes it laborious to get large names on the schedule. The total live performance sequence, offered by Dollar Bank, takes place within the Show Tent.

Families with younger youngsters will be capable of discover a wide range of kid-friendly occasions on day by day of the truthful. The livestock exhibits and petting zoo are often the primary draw for household enjoyable.

“There is always a large variety of animals with the cows, goats, lambs, miniature horses, and usually some other more exotic animals like camels and llamas,” says Hunnell.

Kids love to observe cats, canine, and birds carry out methods and magic within the “Rock n’ Roll Pet Kids Show”, which happens every day. The “Stone Age Show” can also be successful with the youthful audiences, the place children can meet life-sized dinosaurs in a enjoyable and fascinating efficiency that encourages viewers participation. They additionally benefit from the sillier competitions, just like the milk chugging contest.

“Planning and scheduling the various events is one of the harder tasks and there are activities that overlap,” says Hunnell.

Not solely does that imply that fair-goers should make some choices on what they most need to see, however it additionally creates a problem for the 4-H and FFA children who’re taking part. Some of the occasions that they wish to compete or take part in might overlap. The Fair Board retains this in thoughts once they plan the truthful occasions, hoping to make sure that there are as few scheduling conflicts as doable.

With a thoughtfully curated schedule that blends agricultural heritage with crowd-pleasing leisure, this yr’s truthful guarantees one thing for everybody–whether or not you’re coming for the animals, the funnel cake, the varsity bus demolition derby, or the rodeo. Behind each occasion is the laborious work of the Fair Board and native volunteers who try to create an expertise that displays the spirit of the group. So mark your calendars for August 9-16 and are available able to make reminiscences on the 227th Washington County Agricultural Fair.

For extra details about the truthful and an inventory of occasions, please go to washingtonfair.org.

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