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Enduring tradition: Bedford County Fair marks 150th

By Rachel Foor 8 min read

BEDFORD -- Few things are as quintessentially American as summer events like the Bedford County Fair, with its livestock shows, fried foods, carnival games and amusement park rides bringing people back year after year.

Celebrating its 150th anniversary this week, the Fair has been described as a "great tradition" in the area.

"The way everything has changed in the world, we're pretty much doing a lot of the same stuff," said John E. Holbert, vice president of the Bedford County Fair board of directors. "We try to make some changes, but a lot of it is the same from year to year; the animals, the kids in 4-H, the food, the Midway Rides."

There aren't many surviving records of the first official fair held along Penn and Juliana streets in downtown Bedford. Smaller and shorter fairs and agricultural exhibitions were held in town from at least 1795 until 1852. When the Civil War began, Holbert said "everything stopped" and it wasn't until 1873 that the fair was incorporated into its parent company, the Bedford County Agricultural Society.

"The next year, they purchased the original 15 acres of this fairground and it was down where the racetrack is now," Holbert said.

Those 15 acres cost the equivalent of $144,172 in today's dollars and the debt was paid off by 1901, Holbert said.

In 1922, the fair purchased an additional 125 acres and in 1926, electricity was installed, enabling it to become a nighttime event. The first major carnival set up shop at the fair in 1935, boasting 15 rides, 20 shows, 40 concessions and a crew of 400 employees, all traveling by train, Holbert said.

"In 1936, they built the racetrack that is in existence now," Holbert said. "It is the oldest track in Pennsylvania and one of the oldest in the United States. Then, in 1953, the first beef barn was built."

Today, about 300 volunteers help to pull off the annual fair that each year sees about 5,000 entries across all competitions and more than 40,000 visitors passing through the gates.

"We take a lot of pride that we're still going here, even through all the changes over the years," Holbert said.

There are about 18 rides and various game stalls operated by Bartlebaugh Amusements, live music every night, a chainsaw artist, a petting zoo and even a dog show, Holbert said.

In honor of the 150th anniversary, the fair will hold its first fireworks show (Saturday) since 2001.

A family affair

In the early years, food stands were run by local churches, where there was "nothing too fancy," Holbert said.

Today the fair has about 50 food stalls, he said, with a number of them being run by the Snyder family of Bellefonte.

Rick Snyder said his parents, Imogen and Blair Snyder, began the family's food business in 1968 and became a vendor at the Bedford County Fair about 1972. It started with a 600-pound pizza oven in the back of a trailer with a table to make pizzas.

"That's how we got started," Snyder said. "Now, we're 50 trailers strong."

The Snyders' food trailers are spread across eight different corporations with different members of the family running different spots.

"My mother and dad started it and we just took it and ran with it," Snyder said. "My mom's still in it. The funnel cake trailers are hers."

Working events like the Bedford fair is a family affair for the Snyders, with Rick stating he's been in the game for 44 years and now has 13 grandchildren helping out in the trailers.

"That's just the way we raise them and they're good kids," Snyder said. "I have nothing bad to say about my grandkids because they're working. My little nieces were putting ice in the lemonade over the weekend."

Snyder, whose oldest grandchild is 13, said they even keep pillows and blankets in the cool lemonade trailers so the kids can take a nap if they want. In the french fry trailer, Snyder said the internal temperature reached 130 degrees during a heat wave.

"We were busy and there's no way to get away from that," Snyder said. "You just put fans on and it just blows hot air around. But this business is tough; it's a lot of hard work and traveling."

Snyder's favorite part of the fair is meeting people, and since he's been coming to Bedford for so long, he sees a lot of the people as family.

"More people will come to fairs like this," Snyder said. "We've been here for so many years. My parents came here first and (people) know we're coming every year."

Generations gather

FFA and 4-H members work all year on their project animals, and their efforts are put to the test at the fair, when kids take part in showmanship events and their animals are put through their paces in the market shows.

Heather Johnson of Artemis once showed livestock herself, but now helps her two daughters, Josilyn, 13, and Jenna, 10, prepare for their goats, swine and lambs.

"This is my time off work," Johnson said, noting she took a week and a half off work and brought a camper to stay in.

The girls will start with showmanship and then market shows, she said.

"The showmanship is how good she does and the market is how good the goat is," Johnson explained. "(Josilyn) hates showmanship because it's all about her. I think it just frustrates her ... and you could have the best animal and you can get out to the show ring and it'll act up."

It's a bit bittersweet for Johnson, who has been attending the fair since she was a kid, to now watch her daughters learn and grow in the same events she once competed in.

"The traditions of the queen and the leadline and those kinds of things," are what Johnson likes about the fair. While she aged out of the competitions, with her kids involved "now we get to be a part of it."

Raiden Race, 10, is also following in his family's footsteps, as his mother, Heidi, showed swine and lambs.

"It's been pretty cool, kind of reliving my old childhood memories," Heidi said. "A lot has changed, but a lot is the same as well. This is good, teaching him responsibility and hard work."

It's Raiden's first year showing at the fair, as his swine entries didn't make weight last year. This year he also plans on showing a goat, and a lot goes into getting them ready.

"For the goats there's getting them halter broken and then bracing them, getting them set up to show," Heidi said. "And the pigs, just getting them used to walking around and getting them exercised, too."

For the Cottle family, who just returned from showing in the Miniature Hereford Junior Nationals in Oklahoma, the Bedford fair makes a nice welcome home.

Brett, 14, and Ben, 15, were busy in the beef barn washing their steers, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, on Sunday. Their mother, Ashley, a 4-H leader, said the pair has shown steers, heifers and lambs over the years.

"Their older brother (Eyziak) started when he was young," Ashley said. "Brett's first fair was when he was six weeks old."

When asked how her oldest son became involved in showing livestock, Ashley said some of his friends were in 4-H and he wanted to try it out. They've been attending the fair ever since.

"I'm not sure how long the other (fairs) have been going, but this fair comes from a tight-knit community that's stayed tight-knit because it's based on tradition," Ashley said. "A lot of farmers are raised on tradition."

More information about the fair can be found at www.bedford-fair.com. Admission is $12 a person and includes all rides and grandstand shows. Parking is $3. The midway rides are open from 2:30 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 10:30 p.m. At the grandstand, Bullride Mania is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight, while a demolition derby will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and auto racing at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Pick up truck pulls begin at 5 p.m. Saturday and at dusk, the 150th celebration fireworks show wraps up the 150th rendition of the Bedford County Fair.

The fair board will reconvene at the end of August and start preparing for the 151st event, Holbert said. They'll perform an evaluation and take note of what worked, what didn't and what could be improved.

"It takes everyone to pull a show off," Holbert said. "We're already starting to plan for next year."

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.

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