Ed Schultz’s rise to the top of the Unionville Community Fair is well earned. He’s been volunteering to do anything they need since he moved to the area 42 years ago.

Serving as director of facilities last year, he will serve as president for the 2023 fair scheduled to run from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, and also carries the honor of “dedicated volunteer.”

“My first job was cooking chicken back when we sold dinners as part of the fair. A lot of us volunteers wear many hats during the fair like helping with parking, helping vendors get set up and delivering supplies where needed,” he said.

Schultz, 74, is a retired project manager who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in mechanical engineering. He said that set of skills led quickly to his taking the lead with many industrial projects.

Having grown up in the far Northeast suburbs of Philadelphia a block from Bucks County, he and his wife, Debbie, moved to Unionville in 1982.

He said he chose this area because they felt it was a beautiful area, it had good schools and it was convenient to his new job at Conowingo Dam.

His children went to Unionville schools.

Four years ago, he became captivated with the idea of having a haunted house at the fair. He dived into the project and created an elaborate and very popular feature, especially for the kids.

Carrying out the project involved getting a team together and eliciting ideas for scary rooms that included witches, skeletons, Halloween music and graveyard scenes.

What he found in the process was that throwing together a site for entertainment was more than just wood, nails and wires.

In addition to gathering staff, finding costumes and sharing ideas, he had to concentrate on designs, measurements, safety and storage options.

He had to make sure the walls weren’t going to fall down on someone and that no one was going to get hurt. He had to figure out how visitors would pay for admission and where the actors would plug in for electricity. He had to submit permits and even had to spend some time getting “haunted house certified.”

In addition to his position as fair president this year, he is still hanging on to this role with the haunted house because he likes it so much.

Meanwhile, as fair president, he admitted the job starts long before the October opening. The responsibility rests on his shoulders to enlist volunteers and event chairs, assure funding, get permits, lay out schedules, assign locations and plan for unforeseen problems. It’s actually like carrying out the responsibilities of a business CEO.

Schultz said a couple of important parts of his job are to solicit funding and to make sure there is publicity for the event. Last year he had to make the decision to raise the parking fee to $10 in order to help cover expenses. Still, he added, the parking is a bargain considering entrance to the fair is free, and the cars that park are welcome to carry in as many people as they want.

Schultz is respectful of the fair’s history and works hard to maintain its agricultural heritage. Still, he says, he has to keep up with the current interests of his clientele. He enthusiastically endorses the tailgate, technology tent, the wine and beer fest, the mushroom competition, and other new additions.

He’s looking forward to a big turnout this year, especially after the three mini-events of 2020, the scaled down fair of 2021 and the rain-dampened Sunday last year.

“We turned into a suburban community, but it’s important to keep the kids in touch with the farm,” he explained. “As long as we keep our roots and expand, we succeed.”