Campers enjoy comforts of home at fairgrounds

By KATIE SEMINARA

Cozy camp sites and colorful stables are a sure find at the Canfield Fair.

CANFIELD — Camping at the Canfield Fair doesn’t involve the ordinary picture of a tent, fire and ghost story.

A camping picture at the fair would include decked-out motor homes, space heaters and college football games on flat-screen televisions.

With more than 700 campers, motor homes and RVs, the fair provides a camping city filled with an average of 2,800 people.

Clyde Martz, campground manager, said people love camping at the fairgrounds. They develop little cul-de-sacs with fellow campers and keep coming back year after year.

Campers start flooding the fairgrounds the weekend before opening day to set up and get reacquainted with the neighbors they see once a year.

One lady drove in at 3 a.m. last Saturday and slept in her car until 4:30 a.m. — just to sit in a chair so she was at the front of the registration line, Martz said.

Being a camper for 30 years, Martz has seen million-dollar campers, huge grills for group barbecues and decorations to represent a family’s lot.

“The RVs are getting bigger and bigger every year,” Martz said.

Aisles and aisles of campers span acres of the grounds. Richard Ward’s 37-foot motor home is one of those bigger homes on wheels.

“We live like we do at home,” said Ward’s wife, Louise.

The Wards, of Freeport, Pa., travel to two fairs and across the country but can cook, shower, enjoy satellite TV and sleep comfortably in their $200,000 motor home.

With a queen-sized bed, cherry cabinets and soft leather interior, the Wards live in comfort during the Canfield Fair.

While the Wards delight in their cozy interior, down a few rows, the Colella family spends most of its time enjoying the camper’s exterior. Having a Nintendo Wii hooked up to a large, flat-screen TV with Surround Sound may be the reason the Colellas spend most of their camping time outside under tents.

“We have Guitar Hero and our laptop hooked up too,” said Dan Colella, of Columbus, while the Saturday afternoon Ohio State-Youngstown State game played on their TV.

“This has become our Labor Day tradition,” said Adam Booth of Columbiana, who used to show in 4-H at the fair.

It’s more of a family reunion with theme nights and a Canfield Fair scavenger hunt, said Booth. A blender to make nonalcoholic margaritas for their fiesta night is just an added bonus to spending time with fellow campers in their cul-de-sac, said Colella and Booth.

Campers aren’t the only fairgoers who make life at the fair more enjoyable by bringing a bit of home along for the week.

Those who set up stable displays also take extra time to emit a feeling of home and pride to fair attendees.

In front of the Heasleys’ horse stables are four lit lamp posts with white picket fences between and hanging ferns with yellow mums planted below.

“We always try and put on a good display,” said Tricia Heasley, of Canfield. “Stables reflect your ponies and yourself.”

After 36 hours of decorating and hanging embroidered towels, prize ribbons and icicle lights, the Heasleys made their stable home for the week a little brighter for the horses and themselves.

Paula Bardo with Bardo Hill Farms of Salem didn’t have icicle lights over her dairy cow stable, but she did have a lush fall setting with a working fountain.

Marigolds, ferns, gourds and pumpkins made for a display that took a couple of days to set up, said Bardo.

“It gives you pride in what you do and of course you want it to look nice,” Bardo said of taking the extra time to decorate her stable.

The most sentimental and touching part of the Bardos’ display is a hand-carved bench in memory of their son, Josh, who died in 2006.

Josh participated in shows at the Canfield Fair, and his twin brothers, Luke and Levi, 23, and his sister, Lydia, 21, are still active in fair activities.