Sunday, August 24, 2014
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
and Kalea Hall
CANFIELD
Many Valley residents are anticipating the Canfield Fair’s 168th opening day, and the fair board and vendors are preparing to bring in thousands of fairgoers.
“You put 100,000 people on the grounds, and you get something cooking and something burning — anything can happen,” said Andy Frost Jr., who oversees emergency medical and fire services at the fair. “We have a great system.”
Red Cross volunteers, firefighters from many departments and police officers make the system work.
On average, the fair logs three fire calls, 102 medical runs, 750 fairgoer visits to two American Red Cross medical stations staffed by 30 to 40 volunteers.
This year, there is a new substation for medical calls on Austintown Drive inside the fairgrounds. It is between the Medical and Floral and Fine Arts buildings. The main medical hub is on Jackson Drive in front of the racetrack.
“We work hand in hand with the police,” Frost said.
Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court oversees the police at the fair. About 200 police officers are sworn in to secure the fairgrounds during the six-day fair. During the day, typically 25 officers patrol the grounds with more at night. The officers come from a variety of Mahoning County departments.
“We really have to go with the flow,” Judge Evans said.
The weather and the grandstand shows are two reasons why the flow may change. This year, Reba McEntire will perform with opening act The Willis Clan at 8 p.m. next Sunday. Justin Moore and Randy Houser will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 1, Labor Day.
Over the 18 years Judge Evans has been director of security, the number of officers at the fair has grown.
Fairgoers “should feel safe,” he said.
They also should be ready to eat.
Robert DiRusso readily admits that preparing seven DiRusso’s Sausage trailers, along with an entire fleet of employees, for the fair isn’t the easiest of undertakings.
Weeks before the fair, DiRusso already was anticipating the “big process” — setting up at the fairgrounds — that began Thursday and continues until the fair opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
“It’s the most difficult fair to set up at,” said DiRusso, who is president and owner of the Youngstown-based company. “It’s so big, and there are so many vendors.”
But DiRusso can’t imagine having it any other way.
For one thing , the Canfield Fair offers his business a great marketing opportunity. Being at the fair — he estimates that he’ll work 10 hours a day on each of the fair’s six days — also gets him out of the office.
More than that, though, DiRusso’s Sausage has been at the fair the past 50 years.
The first DiRusso’s Sausage stand was set up at the Canfield Fair by his uncle, Augustine “Augie” DiRusso, in 1964, and DiRusso began selling sausage there seven years later, at age 12. Even today, DiRusso doesn’t feel like he’s “100 percent working.” He’s surrounded by people who are in a good mood, along with all of the activity at the fair.
“It’s a long day and hard work, but it’s enjoyable work,” he said.
Some things have changed in the past 50 years, including the company’s narrowing down its fair offerings to just sausage sandwiches. Its trailers, along with the facilities at the fairgrounds, have improved, as well. It’s different, but it isn’t, DiRusso said.
Most importantly, it’s a tradition.
“I’ve been doing it forever,” he explained. “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop doing it.”
Another family affair at the Canfield Fair is Molnar’s Concessions, based in Austintown. The 48-year-old business whose most popular items include cinnamon rolls, steak hoagies, french fries and hot sausage is operated by the father-and-daughter team of Jim Molnar and Faith McGee.
Molnar, too, said the Canfield Fair is the largest county fair that the concessions company does, and noted that setup at the fairgrounds requires a couple of weeks’ worth of coordination beforehand.
Bringing in trailers and tents, and “getting everything up and running and keeping it up and running,” depend a lot on the weather. It might be raining or it might be 95 degrees, but there’s no way around it, Molnar said. There’s also no way around the long, hard days and nights required to both set up and run the stands.
So, what keeps him going?
“It has to be the love of it,” Molnar said. “But money’s always a good motivator.”