Soggy but fair

"It's fair week!" is the usual response with a shrugged shoulder and a 'whaddya gonna do" expression when participants are asked if they are staying dry. Rain and storms have plagued the Venango County Fair for years. Whether huddled in barns to stay safe or working to keep flood waters rolling off the hills into the barns at bay, the work of preparing the animals for shows goes on even with the rumbles of thunder and lightning all around. Once the fair starts it has to keep going on. That's life.

The muddy parking lots and Kiwanis Bowl will still be places to navigate today as the fair begins to wind down with more activities for the kids as well as preparations for the very popular livestock and cheese yield auction tonight in the Phillips Arena at 6 p.m.

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Beside the usual work of feeding, bathing and caring for the animals at the fair, the chatter in the barns Thursday night centered around how many had to make trips home to deal with the effects of the soaking rains on their farms and in their flooded basements. Flood waters poured into barns at the fair too during the last two days of heavy downpours. Like a giant family, the fair participants all chimed in to help clear as much water as possible and minimize the mess of mud and falling leaves around the grounds.

Llife goes on. The fair goes on.

On Thursday night, after a lot of back breaking work, a Cornhole tournament filled the Phillips Arena while thunder and lightning still rumbled outside. But the fun sounds of the kids engaged in serious, but friendly competition may have drowned out those sky boomerss outside.

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