—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 24,1977
42
Restaurant crew
her responsibility
at Lampeter Fair
By SALLY BAIR
Feature Writer
When the last week of September rolls
around Mrs. J. Wade Groff leaves her
cucumbers and tomatoes on the vines at
her 644 Beaver Valley Pike farm and
heads for the Fair Restaurant at the
Lampeter Fair. The tradition was begun
by Evelyn 14 years ago, but the pace has
increased in the last three years since
she’s been in charge of scheduling kitchen
help.
The Fair Restaurant is run by the Board
of Directors, of which Evelyn has been a
member for 11 years, and community
members. They serve lunch and full'
course dinners each of the three days of
the fair. The menus vary each day and the
selection includes about 10 items, but each
has a specialty. On Wednesday there
chicken com soup for lunch, from 11-1:00
,m., and roast chicken for supper, from 5-
p.m. On Thursday you can choose
"ken pot pie for luncl} and roast oeef in
evening. And on Friday, it’s beef stew
/ lunch and baked ham for supper.
Mrs. Groff says, “I don’t help to season
' food, so I can say this - the meals are
illy good. I chop onions and wash celery,
my main responsibility is to get help
'up.”
Lining up the help includes sending
ters to nearly 100 people and asking for
response by card or by phone as to when
'y would like to help in the restaurant.
Groff estimates that about 25 people
Playing the piano is something Mrs. Bowers enjoys, but only for herself.
In her back yard, Mrs. Bowers enjoys some of her many varieties of flowers.
help daily on about four different shifts,
beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m.
She said she tries to go as soon as she gets
her work done in the morning and often
doesn’t leave until nearly 10 p.m. “It’s a
rather hectic week for a family.”
The community women respond
willingly, and Mrs. Groff notes, “We get a
few new ones each year. Most really enjoy
it. You know it must be fun or in this day
and age people wouldn’t do it without
money. We joke and kid while we work.
For the restaurant workers, chores
actually begin on Tuesday before the fair
starts when they cook the chicken and
make applesauce Mrs. Groff admits with a
laugh, “I have to let everything go that
week, but I’m hoping my pickles will be
about finished. Some years they are not,
and then I work early in the morning and
late at night. But I’m not someone who just
keeps on working - some things don’t get
done.”
This is the 53rd annual fair, and the
restaurant is in its 21st year. At first
Evelyn recalls, “They served a few
judges, a few fanners and cattlemen and
the state police who helped with the fair.
Now we serve nearly 500 meals each
evening and 100 at lunch. It seems to grow
gradually each year.” Mrs. Groff credited
Mrs. Leroy Andrews and Mrs. Isaac Herr
with doing a wonderful job for 18 years in
(Continued on Page 46)
Mrs. J. Wade Groff must check her records carefully as she makes out the
dining room schedule for the fair.
f *
i
She has 44 yr. career
in canned goods dept.
of New Holland fair
By SALLY BAIR
Feature Writer
been found in the canned goods depart
ment of the New Holland Farm Show - for
42 of those years she’s been running that
division as its chairman. That means she’s
seen a lot of canned goods over the years -
and made a lot of friends.
Martha Bowers, Leola, says, “There’s
tricks in all trades,” and she must know
them all in the canning division of the
Show. There are 77 categories of canned
goods, not including jams and jellies, and
each year Mrs. Bowers faithfully records
the numbers of entries in a notebook. When
she started keeping records in 1950 there
were 353 entries by 57 people. In 1977 there
were 511 entries from 90 people. “The
numbers,” Mrs. Bowers says, “depends a
good bit on the weather. If it’s dry there’s
less.”
Along with the number of entries, Mrs.
Bowers also records the kind of weather
fairgoers enjoyed. Some years there was
“summer weather,” sometimes it was
“dry,” and occasionally it was very rainy.
What’s the most popular canned item at
the show? It’s pickles, without a doubt,
Mrs. Bowers declared. “A lot of people can
pickles who don’t can anything else. Some
don’t bring anything but pickles.” She
added, “Fruits are a little harder to
handle.”
In the earlier annals of fair judging,
pickles were not opened to be tasted by the
judges, but were judged solely by ap>
t *
Making egg cheese is a favorite job of Mrs.
Groff’s. Here’s a perfect mold, ready to be eaten.
pearances as are other canned goods. This
has been changer' however and Mrs
how they taste, but winners are selected
according to a judge’s taste.” She noted
further that some pxckels which look really ,
nice m the jar don’t taste all that great \
when opened. She said she enjoys tasting
some of the pickles: “We’re regular pickle
faces in my family.” But as chairman she
said she must remain impartial.
At the New Holland Farm Show most
entries in the canned goods division are not
from farm people, Mrs. Bowers said
“Usually the exhibitors can’t wait ’txi
we’re done to see how they’ve done. People
come through after the judging hunting
their own jar.”
Despite the fact that there are 77
categories, which seemingly would cover
every possible canned food, Mrs. Bowers
says that each year there is something
brought in that must go in a miscellaneous
category. One item which no longer ap
pears in the catalogue is canned rabbit
“We used to get a lot of it, but we cut it
out,” Mrs. Bowers said. “And we cut out
pieallily- it was never made right.”
Mrs. Bowers admits that the Farm Show
is hard work, but added, “It helps you get
out among people. People have learned to
know me, and often come and say, 'well
here we are again.” The job is very short
lived, she points out. “As quick as the last j
can is judged we can leave. We just make
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