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Family carries on popcorn tradition at Canfield Fair
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CANFIELD
Each of Peggy and Harry Potts’ visits to the Canfield Fair over the past decade has started in much the same way.
Before they do anything else, the North Lima couple head straight to the Antique Machinery area, located near Gate F. Once there, they follow their noses, weaving their way in and out of displays of various steam-powered machinery, to one featuring an air compressor-powered machine that churns out fresh-popped corn every few minutes.
The popcorn is then dumped into a big, stainless-steel bowl and quickly ladled by fairgoers into plastic foam cups. Salt shakers wait at the ready nearby.
“The smell first attracted me,” said Peggy, a self-proclaimed “popcornaholic,” who called the popcorn, available for free at the display, both light and flavorful. “I can smell popcorn being made from a mile away.”
As the Pottses drove onto the fairgrounds Friday morning, however, they couldn’t help but wonder if their first stop this year would have to be someplace different.
After all, the driving force behind the engine display — Thomas J. Hacon, who was perhaps better known by some as “the Popcorn Man” — died Jan. 26 at age 90. This year would’ve been his 31st at the Canfield Fair.
But Peggy and Harry were pleasantly surprised to discover that the remaining Hacons hadn’t abandoned what Thomas had started so many years ago.
“I’m just happy that his family is carrying on with the tradition,” Peggy said.
Terry Hacon, one of Thomas’ five children, said his father started off at the fair by displaying small, steam-powered engines he had built, many of them in his Austintown garage. He simply wanted to share them with others.
Thomas’ display didn’t begin drawing crowds until about 25 years ago, though. That’s when he got the idea to use the machines, which then were powered by steam instead of compressed air, to pop corn. It was a way to demonstrate the steam engines’ use to fairgoers.
The kernels and oil are heated by propane, while the motor shakes a bowl holding the corn as it cooks, preventing it from burning.
It didn’t take long for the display, which eats up between 300 and 400 pounds of popcorn kernels each year, to become a fair staple. Thomas, too, became a legend in his own right.
“He liked seeing the little kids out here and the smiles on their faces,” Terry said.
Terry added his father, a former mechanic for bowling-alley equipment, had been fascinated by steam machines since boyhood, which he spent in South Greensburg, Pa.
He started his own bicycle-repair shop at age 14, often delivered groceries to neighbors by wagon, taught his mother English and helped to raise his three siblings. During World War II, he served as a medic in the Army Air Force in both Guam and Japan.
When he returned from military service, Terry said, Thomas never looked back. He married the former Theresa Baker — to whom he would be married for 63 years — then began to raise a family of his own.
“We’ve got to be thankful for what we have. We’ve got to try to be nice to one another. This was my father’s way of doing it,” he said. “Besides, who doesn’t love popcorn?”
Terry noted he and his family — including wife Kitty Hacon, who has fallen in love with the fair itself while helping out with the display — will continue the tradition.
Terry is especially grateful for the kind words and condolences shared by fairgoers, many of whom were unaware of his father’s death.
“They loved Dad,” Terry explained. “We knew our father impacted people, but this [has been] overwhelming. We sincerely appreciate it.”