—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 23, 1972
22
Mrs. Wm. Earl DeHart. ..
By Mrs. Charles McSparran
Farm Feature Writer
The 41st annual New Holland
Farmers Fair will be held Oc
tober 4 to 7. It is said that this fair
has the highest paid premium list
on farm and home exhibits in
Pennsylvania.
The poeple of eastern Lan
caster County beautify their
homes with many beautiful
flower annuals and perennials
and many housewives take pride
in their house plants. This is
evidenced by the flower exhibits
at the fair.
Mrs. Wm. Earl (Mary)
DeHart, Ranck Ave., New
Holland RD2, and her committee
of seven will be very busy han
dling some 500 entries expected
in the flower department of the
fair this year. Last year they had
550 entries but recent dry
weather may reduce that
number.
Mrs. DeHart has served as
chairman of the flower depart
ment for seven or eight years and
helped on the committee several
years before that. Their
department is located in the Boy
Scout home on South Roberts
Avenue. They will accept entries
Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. and
Wednesday from 8 to 11 a.m.
They have several classes for
house plants in flowering plants
and foliage plants and many
classes for annuals and perennial
specimen. There are 14 classes
for artistic arrangements and
five classes for childrens
arrangements.
This is strictly an agricultural
fair with a full line of farm and
home products. Fancy work,
canned goods, baked goods,
fruits, nuts, eggs, vegetables,
jellies and preserves will be
housed in the school auditorium;
livestock, corn, hay and tobacco
are in a tent on S. Railroad Ave.;
grain and potatoes at A.B.C.
Groff’s Equipment Co. and art
and handicrafts are in the Earl
Sauder Building on North
Railroad Avenue.
Dr. Louis E. Williams, a dentist
in New Holland, is new as
president of the New Holland
Farmer’s Fair this year. He
expects thousands of people to
attend the four day events which
have become a tradition. The fair
opens each day at 1 p m.
An attraction for the ladies is
the baked goods and candy sale to
be held in the school auditorium
Mrs. Mary DeHart, chairman of the Flower Department of
the New Holland Farmers Fair, has her fair book in hand as
she looks over her own flowers.
Active New Holland Fair Floral Chairlady
Wednesday noon. Proceeds will
be given to the New Holland 4-H
Sewing and Cooking Club.
The Opening Parade will form
at the Park on East Jackson
Street Wednesday at 7 p.m. and
move up Brimmer Avenue to
Custer, north on Custer to Main
Street, then east on Main back to
the Park.
Thursday the Tractor Driving
contest will be held at 6:30 p.m.
and the Tug-of-War contest with
several firemen’s teams par
ticipating will take place at 9
p.m. They usually have about 16
groups taking part.
Friday is Kid’s Day. They will
be delighted with the many rides
at the fair. The rides are mostly
on North Roberts Avenue and
Main Street. The Pet Parade will
be held at 7:30 p.m. Another Tug
of-War elimination will be held at
9 p.m.
Saturday will feature the Baby
Parade at 4 p.m. The Farmer’s
Fair German Band will perform
during the evening all over the
grounds and the Lamplighters
will furnish entertainment at
7:30. The finals of the Tug-of-War
will be held at 9 p.m.
One of the main attractions of
the fair is the 4-H Swine Show and
Judging Thursday afternoon.
They will be sold Friday at 2 p.m.
Another is 4-H baby beef judging
at 1 p.m. Thursday, prior to being
sold.
Mrs. DeHart plans to exhibit a
very beeautiful green, rose and
pink hairpin lace afghan at the
fair. The committee workers
usually are too busy at fair time
to exhibit very much.
Mary, the daughter of the late
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Glass,
Bowmansville, was bom on a
farm. At a very early age her
family moved to Bowmansville
where her father worked at
Harding’s Bakery.
Mary was always very
musical. She started taking piano
lessons at six years of age and
took lessons for ten years. She
gave piano lessons to 30- some
students over a period of 10 or
more years.
She played the piano and
electric organ for 39% years for
Bowmansville Lutheran and
Reformed Church and Sunday
School (now the United Church Of
Christ). She has been playing the
piano for the New Holland Rotary
Club every Monday night for 25
years. She played for the Young
Men’s Business League in New
Holland for a number of years.
She also did substitute playing for
churches and Lions Clubs. She
says “I love organ and I love
opera.”
Mrs. DeHart also sings. She
joined the church choir when she
was nine years old. She has been
in her church choir ever since,
until this summer when she quit.
She never took any vocal
training.
She was asked to have a singing
audition for Radio Station
WRAW, Reading, one time. When
she went there was no one to play
the piano to accompany her so
the man asked her if she could
play. She said “Oh, a little.” So
he said she should just ac
company herself. She did and
was immediately hired for a 15
minute night program playing
and singing semi-classical music.
She always ended the program
with a sacred number. She did
this for several years but quit
because it was inconvenient to go
so far at night.
Mr. DeHart retired six years
ago, having worked at New
Holland Machine Company 14
years previously. He likes to be
busy so spends 20 hours or so a
week stocking frozen foods at a
grocery store in New Holland.
Mrs. DeHart worked 15 years
at Leininger Hosiery Mill at
Mohnton, at Playtex in New
Holland and as a waitress at
Yoder’s Restaurant, New
Holland. She too likes to be busy.
She does part-time volunteer
work as an assistant leader at the
Welch Mountains Rec Center,
assisting preschool children to
learn various things. This is
sponsored by the Trinity
Lutheran Church in New Holland.
A bus brings the children to the
center.
Mr. and Mrs. DeHart are
members of the Retired Citizens
of New Holland and go to their
meetings and on their trips. They
have about 160 members.
The DeHarts are also members
now of the Trinity Lutheran
Church of New Holland. They
belonged many years to the
Bowmansville Lutheran and
Reformed Church and Earl
served many years on the vestry
there. Mrs. DeHart also taught a
Sunday School class of teenagers
there besides helping with music.
She is a member of the Constant
Workers Sunday School class of
her church and substitutes
teaching the adult class. She is a
member of “The Dorcas Circle”
of Luthern Church Women and
has charge of getting their
programs.
DeHarts have one daughter,
Marilyn Witman of Morgantown.
Her husband is a Certified Public
Accountant in Reading and also
spends some time in New
Holland. They have two sons. One
is in Lehigh University and the
other will graduate next June
from high school. Marilyn is a
registered nurse, having trained
at Reading. She doesn’t work as a
nurse now but is very active in
community work. She works on
the Water Authority, in the
(Continued On Page 23)
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Mrs. Wm. Earl DeHart, New Holland RD2, shows a
beautiful afghan she will exhibit at New Holland Farmer's
Fair. In the background are some of her mother’s dishes she
prizes.
Mrs. DeHart has spent a lifetime in music, singing and
playing.
:omai
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