The winds of war were blowing across Europe when the Schuylkill County Fair opened on Oct. 6, 1941, two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor launched America into World War Il.
On the surface, despite the worsening international situation, things looked pretty normal for the fair.
An ad in the Pottsville Republican cited agricultural and horticultural exhibits and 10 grandstand attractions, including the Flash Williams Thrill Drivers.
But headlines depicting Germany’s attack on Russia foreshadowed the dark days ahead for the nation — and the fair.
The Schuylkill County Fair of 1941 would be the last ever held on the fairgrounds in Cressona.
The U.S. government took over the expansive property in 1942, and erected a defense plant that after the war would be sold to the Aluminum Company of America, or Alcoa, and is now the site of Hydro-Extrusions North America.
There would be no county fair for 43 years until, in 1984, the Schuylkill County Fair Association revived it at the former county farm near Penn State Schuylkill.
Three years later, the association bought the former Happy Holiday Park and established it as the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds.
Under the banner “Flourishing In Opportunity, Rooted in Agriculture,” the 41st Schuylkill County Fair opens a six-day run on July 29 at the fairgrounds on Route 895, east of Summit Station.
The heart of the fair remains in its agricultural roots, insists Paul T. Kennedy, fair president for the last decade or so.
“The secret is respecting tradition,” he says. “It’s about our agricultural heritage, about where we came from.”
Deep roots
Ten years before the Civil War, Judge Jacob Hammer petitioned the state for authorization to hold a county fair on behalf of the Schuylkill County Agricultural Association.
“Porcupine Pat” McKinney wrote in the Schuylkill County Historical Society newsletter that the first county fair took place on Jim Lessig’s farm in North Manheim Township in 1852.
After closing due to financial problems in 1904, it reopened on the Cressona fairgrounds in 1923. Frank D. Yuengling, Gordon Nagle and Dr. Patrick H. O’Hara (father of the novelist John O’Hara) were among the benefactors.
An estimated 30,000 people poured in through three entrances on opening day of the fair, Sept. 3, 1923, Labor Day.
“Schuylkill County again has a fair,” the Republican reported. “With all the splendor and grandeur of the days in Orwigsburg, magnified a hundred times, it opened a few miles south of Pottsville.”
On 179 acres, the fair featured thousands of chickens, hundreds of cattle, $1 million worth of automobiles and vaudeville shows. But the biggest draw by far was horse racing — thoroughbred and harness.
After a gap of 19 years, enthusiasts relished the return of horse racing on a fast, half-mile track. More than 100 horses were entered.
“Many old-timers were about the stables and watched the workouts,” the Republican reported. “Occasionally an old-timer would go up around the stables and be hailed among the older drivers.”
Reflections of the past
The Schuylkill County Agricultural Museum, located on the fairgrounds, is a repository of the region’s agricultural past.
Its exhibits include antique farm machinery, woodworking tools and a sawmill. A rare 14,000-pound Bessemer engine, built in 1906, once powered a feed mill.
Darin Brensinger, curator, says the farm equipment and other artifacts are reminders of the hard work and perseverance of previous generations of farmers.
“Life was a lot harder for them,” said Brensinger, 61, of Orwigsburg, the grandson of Schuylkill County farmers. “What we can do in an hour today took them an entire day.”
Honoring their legacy, Brensinger hopes, will provide inspiration for younger people whether or not they become farmers.
Source: Berkshire mont
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