The Unionville Community Fair may be 90 years old, but it’s just as spry and lively as ever.
According to Bonnie Musser, who has served a total of 30 years on the fair’s executive committee, the event’s longevity is due to a sense of community.
“It used to be the event of the year because it was all for the farmers,” Musser said. “Now [all kinds of] people want to keep coming back.”
She added that as an agricultural show, the Unionville Fair is the largest in Chester County and that it has survived over the years because it’s open to more than just the farming community.
Musser said that, despite the fact the fair was held at Unionville High School for 83 years, it’s not a school event.
That said, students — especially the elementary school students — and their teachers enjoy getting to the fair on Friday to check things out.
Jean Russell, a first-grade teacher at Chadds Ford Elementary School, said she’s been bringing classes to the fair for years. She said there are now more exhibits since the fair moved from the high school to the farm property, just south on Route 82.
“It’s better,” Russell said. “There are exhibits designed specifically for the younger students, at least on the first day.”
One of the exhibits Russell’s class experienced was the homemade applesauce. The kids had the opportunity to cut and smash the apples, then taste the finished product. As one young girl said, “It’s really yummy.” Her classmates agreed.
Students also toured the exhibition tent, saw cows, alpacas and llamas, and had the chance to listen to stories from author Robin Moore.
Moore told fifth-grade students from Hillendale and Unionville Elementary schools how buckskin was traditionally made — treating rawhide with cooked brains. Moore then offered them either a scary story or a love poem. They chose the story about a boy who thought he was gnawing on sugar maple trees in the middle of the night so he could come back for buried gold, but he was really chewing on the legs of his bed. As it turned out, it was all a dream, a fact the boy didn’t realize until the bed fell on him.
On Saturday, several members of the school district took part in the annual cow-milking contest. Hillendale Principal Steve Dissinger and one of his students won that competition, but Chadds Ford Elementary School teacher Sue Davis and student Ben Trainor fared well.
Davis, who hails from a farming family said, “My grandfather would be proud.”
The fair continued Sunday. All proceeds from this year’s event benefit the Chester County Food Bank and the Barn at Spring Brook Farm in Pocopson Township.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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