At daybreak on Saturday morning, a rainstorm that intruded on the Unionville Community Fair failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the event’s regular visitors and guests. This was because, in part, the fun had begun much earlier.

Starting on Thursday night, the newly founded tailgate party was reported to have been well attended and happily received by people in about 50 cars under bright skies and mild temperatures. Fair President Ed Schultz said the visitors all seemed to enjoy the line-dancing, music, good food and spirits. And while 25 people preregistered, that number doubled by the time the night was over.

Additionally, food entry overseer Wendy Walker said on judging day -- Thursday -- she was amazed by the number of people who entered food, vegetables and canned goods in the competitions. She said that, in future years, they might have to create separate competition categories for preserved fruits and vegetables because they got so many.

She was surprised by the irony of the canned good numbers as well: In this the 99th year of the fair, there were 99 entries in that category.

Historically, in the old days of the fair, the school kids had two days off – Thursday and Friday -- to attend and participate in the fair. More recently, elementary school kindergarten and fifth graders have been bused over from their respective schools in the district on Friday. They seemed especially interested in looking at the art and craft entries as well as ribbon winners of their classmates in the elementary school divisions.

They also gathered and responded enthusiastically to the dancing and talking dinosaur that came out of a tent and performed.

Past president and fair spokesman Bonnie Musser said, “You can’t miss them. They’re all up there on the hill excited about that dinosaur.”

Then the weather that had been forecasted arrived.

By Friday evening, it appeared most of the local folks knew there was wet weather hovering for the following day. So, being creatures of the climate and outdoors, they rushed to the fair that night before the predicted downpours arrived.

Fair volunteer Debbie Schultz, who was there that evening, said, “They just kept coming and coming! There were hundreds! And they just kept going through the haunted house tent.”

As the wet and gloomy skies arrived on Saturday, attendance was bleak, and it was not the kind of crisp, sunny weather most visitors were looking for or had remembered from past years.

Still, all day the goats remained affectionate, and the cows lounged unbothered by the weather under the tent. By 4 p.m. the fair leaders closed the event early, but then a bit later re-opened it for the popular cow-milking contest.

This year it was the principal/student team from Hillendale Elementary School that won the competition with the most milk.

When Sunday came fair and breezy, the crowds returned in hoards. The fairgrounds along Street Road in Willowdale were alive with parents, children and even out-of-towners.

The day started with the Farm Show Run-Walk and was followed later in the morning by a long line of tractors lumbering through the grounds. A juggler on stilts marched around and carried on conversations with the children.

Present as well were three milk cows from the nearby Baily Farm. Recall that Baily’s was the farm from which escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante stole a truck and fled just a month earlier. The cows’ caretaker, John Barboson, joked to onlookers, “We’re world-famous. People escape prison to come see our cows.”

The goat-judging proceeded as well on Sunday, and the corral for children known as “Giggles and Grins” opened to crowds of kids eager to jump in bouncy tents and zoom down an inflated sliding board.

The fair queen and her court, which had been elected the week before, also made an appearance onstage that day.

This year, last year’s Princess, Ellie Gallo ascended to queen and was present with her court and was strolling the grounds.

This was the 99th year of the Unionville Community Fair, which began as a corn show presented by the farm curriculum boys at the high school. Over the years, the event has been held at what is now the Unionville Elementary School, the Unionville High School and now the Willowdale Steeplechase grounds in Willowdale.