CENTRE HALL — Pickup trucks, SUVs and utility trailers snaked down the tent rows at Grange Park this week, and the sound of drills driving screws was heard, as tenters assembled front porches and rear kitchen add-ons in preparation for the 143rd annual Grange Fair and Encampment.
Sunday, Aug. 13, was a day for tenters to set up before the fair officially opens on Friday, Aug. 18.
The structures are mostly wooden, plastic pipe, or metal-tube framed, covered with plastic tarps.
Many of the tenting families have been doing so for generations. In the North 6 block of tents was Douglas Sampsell, of Bellefonte, sweeping leaves and debris off his tent floor, while his father, Robert Sampsell, began unloading furniture from his pickup truck. Robert Sampsell said his parents first acquired the tent in 1948, and that he and his family grew up with the Grange Fair.
“This was always our vacation,” he said.
Another multi-generation family of tenters included Craig Herrold, originally from Spring Mills, but now residing in Julian with his wife, Erin, and their children, Sage and Tanner.
Craig Herrold’s father, Robert, was on hand to help erect a front porch on their tent located just off the fair midway, near the Boarding House Restaurant. Robert Herrold said his family began tenting there in the 1960s.
Their porch was a clever design framed from PVC pipe, with a tarp that covered the entire tent and porch, thereby preventing rain from leaking in between the tent and its porch. It is equipped with red, white and blue rope lights.
“You’ve got to have the lights,” said Robert Herrold.
Scenes like this unfolded all around the grounds as one of the Centre County’s greatest traditions began for the 143rd time.
The fair features 1,000 tents and 1,500 campers on the grounds, and officially runs from Aug. 18 through Aug. 26.
