It's not the fair, but these folks are fair folks and I love it.

Quote of the day
"It's really just the kid with the biggest mouth"
- Abby Brockett answering the question
"Is there a particular pie that is strategically better for winning the pie eating contest?"

We used to call covering the Crawford County Fair "Hell Week" when I worked at The Meadville Tribune. It wasn't the subject matter at all, it was just a long week. We would go to the fair, go back to the paper to put in some pictures and then go back to the fair a second and sometimes third time in a single day. We used about 20 photographs a day in the paper. It was grueling and I remember covering the final day each week and just being whooped.

Each year I went into the week with optimism and thought "I'm going to cover this sucker like I've never covered it before" and each year I found myself being assigned to same stories, but trying to tell it differently. Some years I was better at it than others.

And each year, lo and behold, I'd get three or four pictures that would end up in my favorites folder and make the final cut of the pictures of the year features we put out around Christmas. I truly loved covering hell... I mean the fair.

When I came down to Venango County to work at The Derrick and The News Herald I was anticipating the fair being the same. It wasn't. Instead of needing to get between 10 to 20 photographs each day, I was only asked for around five or six. The fair is considerably smaller than Crawford County, which really lets me get to know it even better. I love covering this fair.

The families that make the one giant Venango County Fair family are very nice and I really enjoy capturing the moments of their experiences showing animals, caring for the animals and playing games all over the grounds. It's great fun for this old community photographer.

This year the fair had to be modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become the Round-up with mostly animal shows and events for the fair kids and families. The Barnyard Olympics is still going on and it seems more popular than usual with less going on at the fairgrounds. Over 50 participated in Monday's hay bale toss and over 60 in the pie eating contest Tuesday. Organizer Abby Brockett said it's a good thing there weren't too many more because she only bought 60 pies (the little kids only eat half a pie.) 

I had fun watching the antics of the kids and even more so the adults participating in the gluttonous activity. "It is harder than it looks," one participant said. The object is to speed eat the little pie but no one can use their hands. Several people had to blow chunk of pie crust and filling from their noses afterward.

The intensity of the activity was short but fierce.

There was pie flying everywhere. One person quipped "I just entered so I could enjoy a nice pie." That person didn't win the competition but did win at her goal of enjoying a little dessert.

I even had to scape a little pie off my lens, but must admit it's because I was offered a leftover sweet potato pie and some got away from me as i tried to eat it without a fork.

Despite the crowd at the pie contest, the fairgrounds didn't look the same as years past. On Tuesday, there were not many cars to park and my fire police friends weren't needed to direct cars. Almost everybody there is there to show animals. There are not as many food vendors or the usual fair folks selling their wares.

It felt a little more like a well organized giant family reunion on Tuesday afternoon. The rain also didn't help with attendance and the night horse show was postponed because of the weather.

Wednesday the weather is expected to be dryer for the horse shows in the morning and evening in the Kiwanis Bowl. The swine shows will be under cover in the Phillips Arena beginning at 9 a.m. There will be more Barnyard Olympics with a nail driving contest, so any carpenters wanting a blue ribbons might want to give this one a shot. It starts at 4 p.m. on the Scrubgrass Stage.
​There is a Lego contest at 3 p.m. in the Foster Bullock Building, but you must bring your own Legos.

If you know a lot about the Venango County Fairgrounds, you might be want to give trivia night a shot starting at 5 p.m. on the Scrubgrass Stage or scoot over to new rabbit barn for the rabbit show. A versatility horse show will begin at 6p.m. in the Kiwanis Bowl and the crowd favorite Pedal Tractor Pull will take place at 7 p.m. in the Phillips Arena.