L»nc*»t»r famrtnc. Saturday. Oct 2. 1976
66
consumers through parades
By JOANN* SPAIIR
MANHKIM. Pa ■ Fairs
arc exciting events There
arc the livestock com
petitions. the midways, the
ndca, the people, and the
parades And. while most
agribusiness people think of
Fairs mainly in the light of
showing animals or
discussing new implements
on display Fairs can also be
looked at as a tunc to ac
tively promote good
relations between farmers
and consumers.
At least, that's bow one
(arm organization views
them. The Lancaster County
Farmers Association
decided that this year they
were going to get out there
and push farming to the aty
people by building a float
and taking part in the
various county parades.
“Our whole purpose was to
reach the consumer and
make them realize how
important we are to their
daily lives,” explains Mrs.
Robert Brubaker, (Lois)
Mamheim R 2 one of the
women in the organization
was was responsible for
getting the float together.
“After all, when you think
about it, if it weren’t for us
they couldn’t eat,” she adds.
Their float was entitled
“Farmers Nourish the
World,” and so far it has
won first place for most
beautiful in the non
commercial category at the
Ephrata Fair, and taken a
top placing at the New
Holland Fair.
“We really weren’t out for
the money,” says Janie
Garber, Marietta Rl,
another one of the four
women who took on the chore
of assembling the float.
“But, now our costs are paid
for, and that is sort of good to
know,” she continues.
As with many good ideas,
to carry them out requires a
lot of work, and that is
exactly what the women who
volunteered to do the project
found out.
To start with, they had to
come up with an idea. This
was formulated at a board
meeting where several
different concepts were
mulled over. Their par
ticular idea originated from
the Lehigh County Farmers
Association wo had the idea
to use a barn and grass at the
Lehigh Fair. From this basic
idea, however, the Lancaster
group innovated and came
up with their own flourishs.
Basically, the Lancaster
County float consists of a 5 x
8 foot red bam on a 7 x 16 foot
flat bed wagon. Then, em
bellishing the bam are all
sorts of crops and animals
found on the farm. For in
stance, on either side of the
bam doors are shocks of
com, and in the front on the
left hand comer is a display
of farm produce sitting on a
wheel barrow. Adorning the
sides of the bam walls,
themselves, are an
tique rakes donated by one of
the members.
The group also has
livestock on the float, which
is probably the most at
tention-getting part of the
wholecreation. In the front
right band corner is a pen of
Organization reaches
The Robert Brubakers work on Farmers Association float before the
assembling the Lancaster County New Holland Fair.
piglets and between them
and the bam stands a calf.
“If the remarks we hear
along the parade route are
any indication of our suc
cess, I’d say we’re doing
pretty good,” say Lois and
Janie. “We kept hearing
people say, ‘Oh, look at those
cute little pigs,’ ” notes Lois.
She also points out that even
in the livestock tents at fairs,
there are rarely young
animals. So, for many city
dwellers, the piglets on the
float are a real treat to
behold.
When the float arrives
before the fudges during the
parade, one of the women on
the float feeds the calf out of
a bottle. The president of the
organization and hiand Mrs.
Earl Newcomer, ride on the
float dressed in quaint, old
fashioned clothing. Two
children and another adult
also ride on it.
Some of the other
decorations to adorn the
float are pumpkins, indian
com, apples, potatoes, and
two pig troughs of flowers,
which are placed beside the
bam.
“We tried to include every
area of farming,” says
Janie. Unfortunately, they
only had a limited amount of
space to work with, so some
of the different facets of
farming were omitted out ot
necessity. The float is,
nevertheless, highly
representative of all types of
farming.
According to Jane and
Lois, assembling the float
the first time was really
hectic. A specially sized barn
was made for them in a
matter of four days, and
when it arrived it then had to
be welded together and
bolted down on the wagon.
Before this, however, the
grass, which was
manufactured astroturf,
bad to be stapled to the flat
bed. Letters for the
association’s name had to be
cut out and nailed down
along the side of the float
onto the grass, and white
crepe paper which bangs
down under the grass had to
be cut and fringed. The little
operations took a good day’s
work in themselves, then
after that came the
assembling of the float which
was another eight-hour day.
The Lancaster County Farmers Association Float
was entitled “Farmers Nourish the Nation."
After the float was
assembled, the next part of
the project to come was
decoration with the various
commodities, and after the
parade,came the tearing
down and storage of the loose
pieces of the float. Because
the group will be taking the
float to several Fairs, the
loose parts have to be stored
for transport. Then, when
(Continued on Pafe 68]
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