Clearfield County Fair
147th Edition

We climbed into the 1958 Buick Roadmaster. Gopher, who was going to be a senior in high school, drove. His kid brother, I and my cousin climbed into the passenger seats [no seatbelts]. We were headed to the fair. We stopped for a fill up [25 cents per gallon] and Gopher picked up some Pall Malls [30 cents a pack]. He lit up and we roared off to Clearfield on three double deuce [US 322] for a Wednesday night of fun at the Clearfield County Fair…the 103rd Edition.

Folks have made the fair the centerpiece of their summers for 147 years. But, much has changed in that time, making it less of an attraction. It used to be that the fair is when you saw top drawer entertainment. Headliners like Lawrence Welk, Red Skeleton, Bob Hope, The Beach Boys, Chicago, Kenny Rogers, Willy Nelson, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Vince Gill, George Strait, Tim McGraw, were regulars on the fair stage. Now there are over the hill pop stars [Doobbie Brothers, Meat Loaf] and second tier country performers on the stage. Why? The fair board cannot afford the lead acts any longer.

I can recall when Bob Hope was the star attraction thirty years ago. He wanted paid in cash. Not a check, cash as in green backs. The woman who escorted him around was a bank employee. She delivered him his fee, $10,000 in cold, hard cash! Now, you could not get a third rate bagpipe player for that kind of money. The county fair circuit is now for retreads and has-been entertainers who want you to “remember when”. The big money and exposure is in TV, Las Vegas and other casino areas, Hollywood and larger city venues. Entertainment is readily available in other places. The fair shows are no longer a big deal.

The granges around the county were the engine behind the fair. It was a gathering of people of the land displaying their wares. Each grange had a booth in which they sold home made food straight from the farm. Well, the Department of Environmental Resources [now Protection] changed all that. No longer could the granges prepare food off site and bring it to the fair to sell. The regulators could not assure the cleanliness and safety of the food products. I don’t know about you, but I would rather have fried food fro Aunt Sallie’s kitchen than John the Greek who may not change his cooking oil for the whole week! This was a blow to the granges since it eliminated a source of revenue from sales at the fair. Our government protecting us from the grangers and subjecting us to over the road vender food!

The fair is no longer the only place to vacation for local folks. Theme parks are within distance and budget of most folks today. So, you don’t have to go the he fair to ride rides and do carnival things. It was a great road trip for a teenager in the early sixties, but there is so much more available today for entertainment. Sulky races, thrill drivers, tractor pulls, they are still part of the fair, but the appeal to a shrinking and smaller population. The livestock exhibits are still a “one of a kind” experience, but it is shocking how few people have ever been around farms and farm animals. On a recent trip with my 15 year old grandson to a dairy farm in Northern Ireland, I discovered he had never been to a farm or around farm animals in his years on this earth!

Lucas worked in the cow barns one year at the fair. It was 12 days of hot, dirty work. But, he came away with more appreciation of the farmer and the lives they lead. But, we are increasingly an urban and suburban country. Farmers are at best ignored, and at worse treated as an under-class. The common man has no idea how dependent we are on these men and women of the land for food and sustenance. The county fair was originally to celebrate their harvest and their lives with an atmosphere of carnival and entertainment thrown in. Now, it is a commercial venture where the farmer has a bit role and the fun and entertainment is no longer first rate. A great deal has changed in 44 years.

If you happen to be in this area of the Eastern Continental Divide, drop into the 147th Clearfield County Fair at the Clearfield Driving Park. It runs through Saturday, August 4. Take in the sights and sounds and smells. That has not changed much. But, remember, it “ain’t what it used to be”. Come to think about it most things aren’t. And, that is shamefully sad.