What's new for 2022

Unionville Fair includes even more offerings for 2022

All photos by Chris Barber

The car show on the west field displays a wide variety of old vehicles.

By Chris Barber Contributing Writer

The Unionville Community Fair has its roots in a corn show organized by the farming students at Unionville School in 1924. Originally called the Community Corn Show, it was a tribute to the agriculture of southern Chester County.

Ninety-eight years later it still is.

Through the decades, the displays of corn and field crops have endured. The offerings, however, have expanded and adjusted considerably, adapting to cultural changes and population growth in the area.

As in the past, this year’s event invites its participants to display the fruits of their gardening and the products of craft labors to their friends and families. In many cases they earn prizes for their winning quality.

And there is much more.

Emerging from two years of cautions prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the show this year is in full flower at the Willowdale Steeplechase grounds. It offers favorites from years past and new additions like the thrilling feature of a new BMX bicycle event.

Student and teacher compete with the other elementary school students at the cow milking contest.

The fair opens to the public on Friday, Sept. 30, at 9 a.m. and runs until 9 p.m. The hours are the same on Saturday. On Sunday, the gates open at 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m.

Parking is on the front grounds in the steeplechase acreage on East Street Road and is $10 per car. Entrance to the fair is free.

The recently renovated barn on the property holds a host of displays and provides the setting for their judging, which occurs on the preceding Thursday. The entries range from needlecrafts, fine arts, photography, baking items, field crops and canning as well as woodworking projects.

Recent entry qualifications for entries have expanded from Unionville-only to residents of all the five southern Chester County school districts, including Kennett, Unionville, Avon Grove, Octorara and Oxford. This move seemed appropriate to the organizers because of the diminishing number of farms in the Unionville-Chadds Ford district alone.

Participants in the fair queen competition are still limited to Unionville High School students and its graduates.

The queen pageant and selection program, which go back

generations to 1936, are held in Unionville Elementary School auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. It was originally called “The Harvest Queen” competition.

The contestants this year will greet the public during their parade on Oct. 1, and the winner is committed to compete in the Pennsylvania State Farm Show in January.

Meanwhile, on the sprawling steeplechase property, visitors will find much to please them in the form of food, entertainment, hayrides and friendly animals.

Vendors will be lined up in the field in their posts providing a variety of snacks. A bucking bronco under a tent invites the mighty of all ages to endure the bumps.

The Beer and Wine Festival and accompanying entertainment on Friday and Saturday evenings will engage adults under early autumn sunsets.

The Grins and Giggles tent, for an extra fee, offers events suited for small children. And after the kids get their fill of playing games, they can skip over to the haunted house tent and test their courage in scary rooms.

Lending their paws, feet and tails to the entertainment are the animals – many of them eager for patting. They include goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas and cows.

But the cows do more than lounge in the hay for display. Their tent houses a cattle competition on Saturday. Later, fair royalty, kids and school officials square off against each other in the milking contest.

And just when you thought you had seen it all, you can still stroll over to the west end of the field for a big antique auto show.

During almost a century, the fair has evolved and adapted to new generations of attendees from an almost exclusively agricultural population to those who found Unionville an attractive suburb to move to.

For those who are old enough to look back at the earlier days, some things have changed through the years including refreshments, the location and expanded offerings.

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Witches actors show off their scariness at the haunted house tent.

A fair visitor takes on the challenge of riding the mechanical bull. A staff member at the llama and alpaca tent shows how the fur is spun into yarn.

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The tradition for the Mothers’ Club and the senior class selling refreshments at the corner of the original school gym has evolved into invited vendors whose selections far exceed the original hamburgers and Cokes that were available.

The Saturday night on-site chicken barbecue and family-style dinner staffed by a team of fair regulars has gone by the wayside – replaced perhaps by the wine and beer fest.

Additionally, during an earlier time, the fair was such a big part he community that the students got two days off from school to survey the fair with (or without) their families. Now, the first- and fifth-graders from the three elementary schools will be brought over by bus from classes to experience the fair under supervision – but no days off.

Finally, accommodating an expanding population in the area, the location has jumped around.

The fair started out at the old Unionville School, which then served students in grades 1 through 12. The fair moved to the high school, and then to the Willowdale Steeplechase, which

Continued on Page 18 Elementary school students show off the pumpkin heads they carved at the fair.

Continued from Page 16 offers a wide expanse of indoor and outdoor space.

While the Unionville Community Fair has seen the loss of some of the sentimental old features, many activities and attractions remain the same.

Longtime fair chairperson Bonnie Musser, who has been on hand for considerably more than a half century of fairs, remarks almost every year that she can identify the competition barn by the fresh smell of the alfalfa as soon as you enter the door.

For so many people, the Unionville Community Fair is a treasured tradition.

It was true 90 years ago, and it still is now.

The hayride around the grounds is a popular event.

Friday: 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm Saturday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm For KIDS 10 yrs & under to enjoy:

Straw Maze • Moonbounce • Corn Crib Pumpkin Stacking • Bean Bag Toss Face Painting and More!

$5.00 per/day, Cash preferred

SATURDAY - Kennett YMCA running the Scarecrow Building Contest 10:00-12:00 and Craft Making 12:00 -2:00

UNIONVILLE COMMUNITY FAIR FUN

PA Fairs Working Together to Keep the Tradition Alive

NEW – BMX Bike demonstrations all 3 days, check schedule & postings at Info Tent HAUNTED TENT – fee required -- Friday & Saturday 6:30-9:00pm - will you scream with Fright?? Friday & Saturday afternoon, 12:00-6:00pm a lower scare factor for the faint of heart & Sunday 12:00-4:00pm THE 3rd ANNUAL CAR & TRUCK SHOW with Classic, Antique, RestoMod, Custom & Ratrod classes. Sunday. Judging and prizes will be awarded. EXPANDED STEM & LEGO ROBOTICS DEMONSTRATIONS – 3 Robotics teams, hands on activities - Tech Tent, attached to the Exhibit barn - Saturday & Sunday -- times will be posted there. FARM SHOW 5K RUN & WALK, Saturday morning 8:30am BEER & WINE GARDEN – Friday, Saturday & Sunday – Donation & ID required for Beer & Wine Garden, see schedule or Information Booth for times SATURDAY Late Ambitions 6:30 – 9:00 Main Stage. Charlie Brosius with his Calliope each day under the tree. FRIDAY - LIP SYNC CONTEST – Main Stage at 6:00pm. Open to all ages – see rules on page 28. Everybody, get your “acts” together and have some fun!! Let’s see more adults on the stage!! FRIDAY - After Lip Sync: Ryan Mayersky Main Stage. Dance with Dan & Galla in Giggles & Grin tent. GOATS: Visit the Goat Tent throughout the Fair and see the judging Sunday morning. HAYRIDES during the Fair, pick up at various locations. GIGGLES & GRINS – fee required, have fun with games and activities for kids, Friday & Saturday. Saturday – make a craft with the Kennett YMCA, build a Scarecrow for judging, run by the Kennett YMCA see schedule for times. MECHANICAL BULL RIDING – back again for all 3 days – there is a fee for this. CRAFT VENDORS – wonderful variety of crafts: Robert Caltabiano woodcrafts; Carmen Scharf pottery, Regina Fees pottery; Melissa Husey, dog rescue; Uprooted Horizons Woodworking and Crafts and many more! COW MILKING CONTEST – Saturday after the Dairy Show approximately 5:00pm. Cheer on your favorite contestants – the famous and not so famous, plus this year’s Fair Queen & contestants try their hands at winning the coveted Milk Can Trophy and bragging rights for one year. COW PIE BINGO – buy your tickets early and often to try to win $1,000.00, Sunday afternoon wait for the cow of the day to leave her “pie”. Tickets available from Board members and throughout the Fair at the Information Booth. SUNDAY NIGHT AUCTION – stay for donated goods from local businesses and crafters, mushrooms hay, etcetera. Starting around 5:45-6:00pm

NOTE: parking fee - $5.00 per person or $10.00 per carload per day. Thank you!!

For time changes, other events or changes due to inclement weather always check at the Information Booth located in center of Fair grounds.