F
•A.R.M. Aims To Pay Off Schuylkill Fairgrounds Mortgage
By VAL VANTASSEL
Berks Co. Correspondent
SUMMIT STATION (Schuylkill
Co.) The Schuylkill County
Fair is a little dream that has
grown beyond all expectations.
What started as a 4-H Fair on the
parking lot of Penn State Schuyl
kill Campus has grown into a
week-long event on the 70-acre
fairgrounds in Summit Station.
The transformation from a little
event on borrowed premises to a
major attraction with year-long
potential has taken place in just six
years. Like a teen-ager sprouting
in all directions the Schuylkill Fair
is having a few growing pains.
They can be summed up in just
one word .... money.
“In 1984 we opened the fair up.
By the next year we realized that
we had outgrown the space avail
able and we started looking for a
new place to hold the fair. It took
us a year and a half, but eventually
we had a chance to buy the Happy
Holiday Park,” explained Tim Al
lison, a member of the Schuylkill
Co. Fair Association.
The 70-acre park came com
plete with a hefty $200,000 price
tag and few facilities, but it did
have a feature not easily found in
Schuylkill County. “The park is
level. It was basically a swimming
and picnicking spot with a few
miscellaneous camp sites. There
was a building that we use for the
fair office and shower facilities,”
Allison explained.
Money from preceding fairs
had been used for fair improve
ments and so there was no money
available for purchasing the fair
grounds.
That’s when F.A.R.M., the
Foundation for Agriculture and
Resource Management, was form
ed. “Nine banks agreed to loan us
a total of $190,000 and a fair asso
ciation member loaned us another
$lO,OOO. F.A.R.M. owns the prop
erty and the fair association runs
the fair. There are 11 members on
the F.A.R.M. board, with six be
ing members of the Schuylkill
Fair Association,” Allison said.
Allison is one of the association’s
representatives on the F.A.R.M.
board.
That means F.A.R.M. gets to
pay the mortgage. Payments on
the 10-year loan run approximate
ly $43,000 a year. Raising that
kind of money would be a daunt
ing task for many organizations
but the one thing that the fair asso
ciation and F.A.R.M. aren’t short
on is enthusiasm.
“We waited to run a major fund
raising campaign until we receiv
ed our 501 C status from the IRS.
For the first year the Schuylkill
Fair Association carried
F.A.R.M.,” Allison said. The new
status makes contributions tax de
ductible.
“Now it’s time for F.A.R.M. to
support itself,” Craig Morgan,
F.A.R.M. member added.
F.A.R.M. started their cam
paign in July. They announced
that they hoped to raise $250,000
in three years to pay off the mort
gage. ‘Then we can put our mon
ies toward the fair and other acti
vities,” Allison said.
F.A.R.M. is asking businesses
and individuals for pledges. This
includes the approximately 460
members of the Schuylkill Fair
Association. "We’re asking them
to pledge $lOO each of the three
years. We’ve been running a tele
phone campaign and it has been
moderately successful. To date
extending their efforts. “I met with petting zoo, fishing rodeo and lots of It isn’t big name entertainment that
the Schuylkill Carbon Farm As so- games. A number of craft people de- draws big crowds to die fairgrounds,
ciation and they volunteered to monstrate their aits. Last year we had “Ours is basically a family oriented
include a letter from F.A.R.M. to caning, painting woodworking, quilt- agricultural fair. We just have a lot of
their 700 members. They also are ing, apple butter making, and sausage family type activities for people to
willing to help us find farmers to making,” Allison explained. participate in,” Allison said,
visit agribusinesses for contribu- The group has sold raffle tickets Among the creative ideas the fair
tions,” Morgan said. and they hold an auction in the has employed are big wheel races for
“We need more people, not spring. youngsters, a youth talent show, hay
only to contribute money, but to The most popular event by far is bale tosses and rolling pin tosses,
help run the campaign,” Allison the fair. It’s come a long way and the senior and junior Olympics, a volley
added. group is proud of its achievements, ball tournament and a tractor driving
FALL FESTIVAL DATES SET ‘The fourth year of the fiiir we had a contest
FARM, in conjunction with the Class C rating. Last year we became That was really popular. We had
fair association has some other ere- a Class A fair. We’ve gone from about 40 participants in different divi
ative avenues for raising funds. “We 5,000 people in attendance to 40,000 sions. There were 300 to 400 people
will be holding our Fall Festival Oct people this year,” Allison said. watching the contest before we were
14 and 15 at foe fairgrounds. It fea- “We even ran out of parking Wed- finished,” Morgan said,
hirers a Belgian horse trolley, a nesday and Thursday night” Craig “One request we had. was for more
haunted house, a greased pig contest Morgan added. daytime activities and we will be
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The agricultural exhibits are also a
big draw. Over ISO dairy cattle, 160
goals, and 130 breeding sheep woe
shown at the fair. “Until the fair came
along there was no 4-H market sale.
This year we had 25 swine, 32 mar
ket lambs and 6 beef sold at the fair,”
Morgan explained.
"The fair has made people aware
of die agriculture that is in this coun
try. When most people think of
Schuylkill County they think of min
ing. Agriculture is valuable in this
county andag-busincss is our number
one business,” added Allen Berger,
FARM, member.
Part of die secret to die fair’s suc
cess is its eager membership. “We
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