Clarion County Fair

From Clarion County Fair Website:

Clarion County Fair

What we know as the Clarion County Fair wasnt always what it started out as. In an effort to improve relations between the areas merchants and farmers, community members organized a gala one-day event.

About 5,000 people turned out for the first picnic in 1938, which featured such events as a balloon-blowing contest, a potato race, a greased pig contest and a tug-of-war. The event was so successful that the organizers decided to keep it going.

The Farmers and Merchants Picnic was first inspired by the Harvest Home days when the park was known only as Alcola. The park was then owned by the Frank R. Johnson family, and in the 1930s, the Johnson interests sold the grounds to the Walter W. Craig Post of the American Legion in New Bethlehem.

During the Legions operation, the grandstand was erected, and the auditorium and pavilion were converted into the skating rink and dance floor. The pool was later added, and many of the original buildings are still in use. The old dance hall and club, which at one time housed the parks merry-go-round, is now used as an arts and crafts display center.