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Chester County Press

The Unionville Community Fair brings a century of rural memories

10/02/2024 02:41PM ● By Chris Barber
Unionville Community Fair [2 Images] Click Any Image To Expand

By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

When the boys in the vocational agriculture course at Unionville School sponsored a show to exhibit their corn in 1924, it was highly unlikely that anyone at that time could have imagined that a community tradition was being started. Who would have imagined that that school project would evolve into the Unionville Community Fair, and that the tradition would be continuing 100 years later?

The Unionville Community Fair is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024, and organizers are marking this milestone with blankets, hats, T-shirts, pens and glow sticks, as well as a couple of small parades.

Here’s a look at some of the special events and attractions at the Unionville Community Fair:

FRIDAY, OCT 4

The doors open at 9 a.m., and parking is plentiful in the yard facing Street Road. Throughout the fair, cars with single drivers pay $5, and those with more pay $10. There is no admission charge for the fair.

Friday has a host of events for kids.

Not only are youngsters invited to attend with their parents, but the students in first and fifth grades from all the elementary schools in the district (Unionville, Pocopson, Chadds Ford and Hillendale) will be brought over by bus to tour the show.

On hand will be musicians Dan and Galla, the bouncy tent, the mechanical bull ride, scarecrow-making, Grins and Giggles children’s events, pumpkins, vendors, face tattoos, entertainment and judged exhibits.

Patton Middle School students will run games as well.

The Circus Incredibles, an impressive team staffed by the famous Flying Wallendas will perform amazing acrobatics and tight rope skills with the kickoff performance at 8 p.m. They will return on Saturday at 5 and 8 p.m.

The vendors will be there with food, and the beer and wine garden will open at 6 p.m.

The evening also holds hayrides and the lip-sync event.

Closing time is 9 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCT. 5

The antique car show joins the other events on the grounds, organized by local car restorer Lou Mandich (Sunday if Saturday is rainy). The vendors will be there all day, and the Unionville robotics students will give demonstrations as well.

The beer and wine garden runs from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the haunted tent opens at noon.

Sky High Skyler will roam the grounds and greet folks.

Saturday is the day the animals are in full force, as the goats make friends with the kids and the cows lie around for patting and waiting to be judged at the afternoon dairy competition.

The big fair favorite, the cow-milking contest, returns immediately after the dairy show at about 5 p.m. In this contest the elementary school representatives compete against each other as well as another round that includes local celebrities.

In recognition of the fair’s 100 years, there will be a parade of fair queens at 11:15 a.m., concluding at the stage with recognition by State Rep. Christina Sappey, D-158, whose office is in Willowdale.

The Circus Incredibles perform again at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCT. 6

Get up early to run in the 5K Run-Walk at 8 a.m. and stick around for breakfast.

The haunted tent will return at noon, a bit toned down for younger children, and run until 3 p.m.

At 1 p.m. look out for a run by the Cheshire Hounds, and stop by the beer-wine garden from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

There is a goat show at 1 p.m. and a tractor parade at approximately 10:30 a.m.

Cow Bingo will find a winner at 3 p.m.

Between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. the checks for winners are available, and the fair closes at 5:45 p.m.with an auction of selected exhibits.

Also, in honor of the century mark, the Unionville High School Class of 2004 is holding its 20-year reunion in a tent on the property.

The fair also continues to bring a huge exhibition of local talent with the many contests that showcase the rural character of the area. The event also features food and entertainment, animals, and plenty of activities for people of all ages during the first weekend in October.

Even though the fair’s origins in 1924 were small, signs of fair growth were there at the very beginning, with the girls in the vocational home economics course joining in the following year with knitting, crocheting and other needlework items.

The girls and their mothers added a turkey dinner to the festivities. They decided to put on the dinner as a way to make money for the fair. They donated and prepared all the food. Faculty set the tables and served the food. The turkeys were grown locally at Cloudland Turkey Farm, located on Unionville Lenape Road.

All this was taking place at the newly built – at that time - Unionville School, the red building that has now evolved into service as Unionville Elementary School.

Very soon after that first corn show, the student organization “Future Farmers of America” joined the effort and added several booths featuring a competition for agricultural displays.

That was the start.

Now, 100 years later, the corn is still there and judged, but the fair itself has moved and expanded exponentially.

The character of the community has evolved through the decades, with Unionville changing from strongly agricultural to suburban. And yet, those recently arriving folks are still loyal to the local fair and its rural roots.

In the century since the beginning, thousands of visitors have strolled the lines of tables observing the successful agricultural and artistic efforts of student and adult residents. And, almost universally, they appreciate the crops and feeling of the country life.

One sign that the fair was getting bigger was the interest by the rest of the students in the schools. A decade after the fair’s small beginnings, the Unionville School senior class members viewed it as convenient money-maker and set up a booth to sell hamburgers, hotdogs and soda there. Their booth would continue until 1960.

In 1936 the Fair Queen competition began. It was originally called “The Harvest Queen” and the winner was determined by the volume of audience applause.  The Harvest Queen Pageant, which is now held the week before the fair opening, has evolved from a talent and charm contest into a competition that requires an oral delivery about country life.

In the spirit of honoring history, the fair queen contest is still held in its original location—the auditorium of the original school – now Unionville Elementary School.

Originally, the students were given two days off to attend the fair after that harvest queen kickoff.

Now the schools remain open, and first- and fifth-graders are bused in to the fair to enjoy the event on Friday.

The queen tradition continues to the present, having only been interrupted a few times by fair cancellation for World War II and a temporary lack of interest in the early 1950s.

In honor of the memory of celebration of the fair queens, there will be a queen parade on Saturday of the 2024 event.