Fairgoers eager to return to tradition, ‘big family reunion’ at Centre County Grange Fair

For 147 years, the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair has been a summer tradition for Centre County families. And for many families and community members, that means never missing a year — or day — of the event.

That is, until the fair was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many Centre County natives felt that absence and are excited to be back again this year.

Spring Mills resident Kristin Smeltzer, 39, is one of those people.

Smeltzer’s family has a long history with the Grange Fair that can be traced back to 1962, when Smeltzer’s father begged his mother for a tent at the Grange Fair, and finally, he got one.

Smeltzer said her family then operated an ice cream concession at the fair in 1981, when she attended the fair as a baby.

Now, Smeltzer takes her own kids to the fair every year.

“Grange Fair is just like a big family reunion,” Smeltzer said. “You see friends and you see family, and I just always really look forward to that.”

Smeltzer said she hadn’t missed a single day of the fair up until she went to college, and to date, she hasn’t missed a single year of the fair — with the exception of the 2020 cancellation.

“It was very strange,” Smelzer said. “But the fact that it wasn’t happening for anybody kind of made it all better. It wasn’t just me missing out on it — everybody was missing out on it. So we all kind of had that feeling of, you know, let’s make the best of this.”

That feeling led Smeltzer and her father to set up a small tent in his yard during the week of the canceled fair, so her two kids could play and still get the experience.

“I try to make it as special to them as it was to me,” she said.

Lesa Boone, 57, of Spring Mills, has also attended the fair since she was a baby, and like Smeltzer, she has been to the fair every year of her life.

But the tradition precedes her own experience, Boone said, as her grandfather had tented at the fair every year, with the exception of the year the fair closed because of the world war. He continued the tradition after, up until his death a few years ago.

But the family still maintains that tent, and this year, Boone’s 101-year-old grandmother will still be in attendance.

“I see so many people around here who are packing up their houses, and you realize that there are people in this valley ... who are just willing to do this, just so that they can get together. And it impacts them because they’re happier,” Boone said. “Every aspect of you is affected by the fair.”

Boone said the absence of last year’s fair was “upsetting,” as she wasn’t able to communicate with those she usually only sees at the fair.

To compensate for the canceled fair last year, Boone went on a trip to Maine with two friends so she could still have that opportunity to relax and get away that she says she usually gets from the Grange Fair.

This year, Boone is most excited to see friends she hasn’t seen in a long time, in addition to “not having to cook supper every day,” she said with a laugh.

“I think growing up at the fair, everything from the bouncy balls to the animals, to gratitude and the community of friends and family around you, it impacts you,” Boone said. “And you miss it when it’s not there.”

Current Grange Fair Queen Morgan Bair credits the fair with changing her life — she’s been attending her entire life, calling it her “second home.”

“Literally since I was born, there’s not been a single day of the fair where I haven’t been,” she said.

But that tradition will change this year, as Bair, 19, will be in South Carolina during the week of the Grange Fair in order to fulfill her role as a student ambassador at Bob Jones University.

Bair said the Grange Fair is so important to her because it, through the Queen Program, is what fostered her passion for agriculture.

But she also said that the fair holds a special place in her heart because of the community — and even though you might only see those faces once a year, she said, they became your neighbors.

“It’s more than just a week of the year,” Bair said. “It’s family. It’s a community.”

Grange Fair runs Aug. 20-28 at the fairgrounds in Centre Hall. Visitors will see more sanitary items available such as hand sanitizers this year, general manager Darlene Confer told the Altoona Mirror. Organizers will also remind people that although masks won’t be required, “we encourage them to wear masks if that makes them feel more safe,” she said.

This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 7:00 AM.