Work goes on after finale

Mother Nature cooperated to help make this year’s fair a winner.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — They build a city for six days, call it the Canfield Fair — and then tear it down and start thinking about doing it all over again next year.

But first, there are a multitude of tasks that have to be accomplished before the 2007 edition of the fair is in the books and its board of directors, each of whom is responsible for a specific area of the fair, can relax.

Several board members on Labor Day reflected on this year’s fair and what stood out about it.

“People were more cooperative this year, from the vendors and other participants to the fairgoers,” said Kathy Bennett, fair board president.

First and foremost, Mother Nature cooperated.

“People were not swimming in mud and it wasn’t too hot, and the vendors were making money,” Bennett said.

She said her first opportunity to relax would be about midnight Monday, when the grounds are pretty much empty.

That doesn’t mean, however, there aren’t a lot of things that have to be done in the next few weeks to wrap up the fair.

It takes a couple of weeks to finish up payroll and pay premiums for winners of various events, and then there are reports required by the state to be completed, she said.

After everybody pulls out, all the rented equipment, such as golf carts and mobile light stands, must be returned, and the trash has to be removed, said George Less, immediate past president of the fair board.

Less, in charge of grounds maintenance, said the highlight of the fair for him this year was “was everybody working together to make the fair a success, including the community.”

‘Rita’s Hope’

Board member Jim Brown, in charge of the antiques displays, said a special memory for him this year is a cancer survivor’s tractor among the record-number of 224 antique tractors on display.

Garry and Rita Kibler of Warren brought a 1941 Farmall H, painted pink, for breast cancer awareness. The Farmall is named “Rita’s Hope.”

Brown said Clyde Foor and Roy Hartley were responsible for putting the historical tent together, which this year included memorabilia from Idora Park, such as cars and the miniature firetruck that was used to haul children around.

The first-time Idora display was put together by Michael G. Pacak of Canfield, an amusement park enthusiast who said he enjoyed the park as a youngster and bought some of the Idora equipment when it was auctioned in 1984. Pacak, whose main interest is collecting pinball machines, arcade games and juke boxes, said he hopes the fair board invites his display back next year, by which time he plans to have the Idora Kiddie Land Train restored and on display.

“A lot of people were interested in the display and remembered their experiences at Idora,” he said.

A permanent display in the antiques area is a turn-of-the century oil field depicting how oil would have been produced between 1895 and 1910.

Oil field display

Shawn Watson of Homeworth, who put the display together, start at the Canfield Fair 27 years ago showing a one-cylinder gasoline engine. Most of the oil field equipment was found in the woods in the Homeworth area and restored by Watson and his family.

The display was given a permanent space on the fairgrounds in 1991, and most of the equipment, after being oiled up good, stays there year round. The equipment includes a 1926 Model T Ford tank truck which Watson takes home with him, several types of oil well pumps, and an 1895 horse-drawn tank wagon.

In a day or two, the rides and the animals and the displays will be gone and the 2007 Canfield Fair, a success by any measurement, over.

But the fair board members were not just reflecting on a good year Monday as the fair wound down. They were already looking ahead to next year’s extravaganza.

Given the poor local economy and dwindling population, 350,000 fair patrons will make the board happy, said board Timm Schreiber.

“Our battle is to continue to provide quality entertainment and education and to keep people for whom the fair is a tradition coming back, and attract new people,” Schreiber said.

He said revenue from the 350,000 attendees will enable the fair to pay its bills and make some improvements for next year.

Nonfair events at the fairgrounds, such as car shows and swap meets and rentals, are what provide money for the extras and financial protection from when the weather doesn’t cooperate and attendance falls.

“We work very hard to keep the agricultural end of the fair up, and not let it become just a carnival,” Bennett said.

At the same time, said Less, “the commercial end really supports the agricultural end” and helps pay for the maintenance and improvements needed.

It’s about balancing the tradition and the familiar aspects of the fair that people want to see year after year, with introducing some new things to attract new people who will then make the fair their tradition, he said.

alcorn@vindy.com