Only Encampment Fair in the U.S. Thrives on Family Traditions 

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

By Esteban Marenco, Vivian Parker and Jenna Ramm 
The News Lab at Penn State

CENTRE HALL — Tinsel and star-spangled banners hug the makeshift fence surrounding Mandy Biddle’s tent. Along the path in front, little girls run around blowing bubbles. Biddle adds the final decorations for her 250th anniversary-themed tent.

The Grange Fair — the only encampment fair in the United States — features a different theme annually for the tent-decorating competition. Biddle hoped to take first place, as she did in 2022. 

A former high school teacher from Spring Mills, Biddle, 47, says she loves tapping into her “teacher energy” to create fun designs for her tent. The family had already added a kitchen, bathroom, and porch. Though Biddle enjoys the 10-day festivities, she returns home every night to shower and sleep in her own bed. However, her mother, Ginger Horner, also from Spring Mills, stays and watches over her grandchildren.  

“This is my mom’s vacation. This is what she does every year, so, in the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty cheap vacation,” said Biddle.  

Horner has been engaged in the tradition since she was a girl when her mother started camping at the fair. Biddle’s two children will be the fourth generation to continue the custom. The fair has become modernized over the years. Biddle said the bathrooms were holes in the ground in the late 90s; now, she’s thankful for flush toilets. 

Across the muddy, rock-ridden road, Biddle’s husband Adam and his parents reside among the sea of camper vans. Biddle jokes that her husband and in-laws camp the “easy way.”  

“We don’t stay in campers. We’re tent people,” she said. 

Mandy and Adam Biddle, who met in high school, have been attending the fair for decades. 

“The tent smells the same as when I was her age,” Mandy Biddle said, looking down at her 14-year-old daughter. “It’s pretty cool to get to see your kids do the things that you did.” 

When Adam Biddle was younger, he was part of Future Farmers of America. Now, he watches his 16-year-old son participate. Mandy Biddle says her son loves FFA for its agricultural and leadership skills, plus he earns money selling pigs at the fair. 

For some campers, the fair is a meeting ground for family reunions and old friends. For others, it’s finding their lifelong partner. Adam Biddle’s parents met at the fair near “Jack’s Blankets,” now a food-vendor site. 

Across from the Biddles, a wooden sign reading “Pap’s Tent” hangs in front of Kim Kellerman Dolman’s tent, which has hosted that family for five generations. Dolman’s father (Pap) brought her to the fair when she was just three weeks old. She now brings her nieces and nephews to compete in the 4H program and experience the nostalgia of the Grange Fair.  

“A little unknown fact: my dad’s ashes were buried here; he lives here, that’s where he wanted to be,” says Dolman. She also made a table for the tent from a slab of the tree that once held Pap’s tent together. 

Tent culture is unique to the Grange Fair. Once families secure a tent, they often keep it for decades. 

“These tents are like a legacy, and you have to keep your space. If you give up your tent one year, you’re okay, but if you don’t take it the next year, you lose it,” said Cindy Garbic, 66, from her family’s tent a few rows over from the Biddle’s. Garbic has attended the fair her whole life and can recall when her mother travelled there by horse and buggy.  

“My sister was on a waiting list for 35 years and just got a tent two or three years ago,” she said. “These [tents] are in divorces and wills.”  

Although the competition for campsites is intense, when it comes down to it, it’s the relationships and customs that fuel loyalty to the fair. 

The decorated tents were judged on the opening Friday night. The Biddles didn’t win first place, but for Mandy Biddle, it isn’t just about the rewards. 

“People stop by, and that’s why I like to do the tent decorating… you make connections that way.” She continued that community-oriented mindset even after learning the contest results.  

“I’m excited to walk around today and check [the other tents] out. I’m sure they’re amazing.”