CENTRE HALL — Packer’s Concessions’ stands have been a familiar sight at Grange Fair and other fairs and carnivals in the area for 50 years.
The company began in 1968 when the late Alan Packer, of Centre Hall, and his friend, Jim Brown, purchased an old ice cream truck for $600. According to Packer’s widow, Darlene,
“He came home and said, ‘Jim Brown and I bought this ice cream truck.’”
They used the truck for a few years, until it no longer ran.
‘The old truck died and we took the machines out and put them inside a trailer,” said Darlene Packer.
Since then, the business has expanded to include 21 food stands offering pizza, french fries, ice cream and other fair foods. Packer’s Concessions has become a true family business, with Alan and Darlene’s sons Tim and Chad and Darlene’s sister Sharon Showers helping to run the business. The Packers travel to about 50 events throughout the state each year.
Many local teenagers have gotten their first jobs working for the Packers during the summer. The company’s stands are easily recognizable on the fairgrounds, with their brightly colored trailers adorned with flags.
Before his death, Alan Packer initiated the Motorsport Day at Grange Fair, which features a car show, an exhibit of race cars, a free drawing for kids to win bicycles and a grand prize of a four-wheeler ATV. This has become a popular event at the fair.
Darlene Packer enjoys her job as company president and shows no signs of quitting. “Someone said ‘Darlene, when are you going to give this up?’ I said, ‘Oh, when I’m 6 feet under.’’
Steve Strouse, of Bellefonte, made his first appearance with his own stand at this year’s Grange Fair. Strouse makes wooden products such as shaker baskets, clocks, tables, cutting boards, napkin holders and other items.
All his products at the fair were made from wood derived from trees that were located on the grounds of Grange Park. Strouse said the trees used were damaged either by disease or lightning strikes, and had to be cut down per insurance company rules.
Strouse has been making wooden items for 25 years, first as a hobby, and then as a full-time job. For three years, he sold them in the fair’s Emporium building.
Strouse’s line of clocks are made from slices of large logs cut with a band saw. He contracts with sawmills in Jacksonville and Millheim for cutting work on these pieces. The slices are smoothed, then sprayed with an oil-based, low-sheen varnish, to protect the wood while retaining a natural look. Pendulum-type mechanisms are then installed, completing the clocks.
Strouse said he approached the fair committee four years ago, asking them what they did with the trees they cut down. They told him the trees were cut up for firewood. So, Strouse struck a deal to acquire some of the logs in exchange for sharing proceeds from his sales with the committee to help pay for cutting down the trees and planting new ones.
“That (money) goes back helping to plant new trees on the fairgrounds that will shade the next generation,” he said.
Each of Strouse’s products is marked with the wood species and the location of its tree of origin on the fairgrounds, thereby making for a great fair souvenir.
Strouse also sells his wood products at the Gallery Shop in Lemont.
