Giddyap!..Rodeo, contests, food, livestock, entertainment & more…
By Kim Chiomento, News Editor, The Times
EAST MARLBOROUGH – The first weekend of October is here, and that means it’s time for the 91st annual Unionville Community Fair and Farm Show. The historic fair has grown from its modest 1924 ‘corn show’ roots to the largest display of community agricultural, home products, handcrafts and arts in Chester County today. This year’s show “Harvesting the Fun” kicks-off Friday, and summarizes just what attendees, exhibitors and contestants can expect from the three day action-packed fair.
With agriculture and tourism remaining as top industries in Pennsylvania, Liz Brown, who assists the fair with publicity and communications efforts says, “The fair is simply the fabric of the Unionville community. It keeps agriculture alive, showcases home crafts and art and is an important part of both our history and life as we know it here today.”
Many may not realize that the fair is run by volunteers and proceeds are donated to local charities. This year, Po-Mar-Lin and Longwood fire companies, along with Kennett Area Community Service (which operates the highly utilized Kennett Food Cupboard), have all been named beneficiaries.
The 2015 fair is being dedicated to long-time friend and volunteer, Dave Solamaki. Solamaki is credited for his many hours tabulating contest entry results and worked tirelessly to streamline the process via laptops donated by Exelon Corporation.
Prior to the donation (and the commonplace home computers we know today), Solamaki used to travel to Hewlett-Packard to manually enter the fair data. He still remains involved with all processes related to fair award calculations. Solamaki also serves on the Board of Directors for United Way of Southern Chester County, volunteers at the polls in East Marlborough Township, is a member of the hand bell choir of West Chester’s Calvary Lutheran Church and serves as a judge in the DE FIRST Lego League competition.
The fair, while a completely separate entity, has a long-standing relationship with the Unionville Chadds Ford School District (UCFSD). In its earliest days, school board members and teachers were a large part of the volunteer team that made the fair happen. Although the old tradition of closing UCFSD schools for the fair ended a few years back when the fair moved down the street from the high school to the site of the Willowdale Steeplechase, its students still can be seen receiving educational tours of various exhibits. And, many of the exhibits and contests still require participants to reside within the UCFSD boundary.
One of the most popular fair events is Saturday evening’s Willowdale Pro Rodeo. Community members can still purchase their tickets online through Friday, October 2nd – 5 PM via the following link: http://www.ucfairinc.org/rodeo.html Following the close of online sales, rodeo tickets may be purchased at the fair’s information booth. Other popular events are the “Give and Take Jugglers (Saturday, 2- 4 PM) and The Little Circus (Sunday, 1 PM.)
Left to right:Ellen Dunbar, 2014 Queen Alternate; Carly Rechenberg, 2014 Queen; Shannon White, 2014 Princess, and SaraTaylor, Princess Alternate
The Unionville Community Fair Queen pageant is a time honored tradition, and also one that adheres to the requirement that contestants reside within the UCFSD. It has evolved from a traditional beauty and popularity contest to a more sophisticated challenge that showcases philanthropy, leadership, academics, personal accomplishments, communications and presentation skills, along with poise. The 2015 queen and court are as follows: Shannon White: fair queen, Clarisse Cofrancesco: queen alternate, Lexus McKinney: fair princess, Lauren Chamberlain: princess alternate.
According to the fair’s website, “Fair Queen and her Court share a unique opportunity to promote our Fair and agriculture as well as the chance to experience personal growth and development. The Queen Pageant helps young women build confidence in their talent, learn poise in their presentation, increase pride in their accomplishments and enhance communication skills.” The pageant winner receives a $500 scholarship
There are so many fun fair happenings from Friday through Sunday, we encourage our readers to click on the following link where the fair’s bountiful schedule of events can be found: http://www.ucfairinc.org/fair_schedule.html
