It doesn’t take too much of a mental picture to imagine a throwback to the Harmony Grange Fair in this year of 2020, one seeming lost to the COVID-19 virus.
Just a year ago, the brilliant and vibrantly colored drone photo was taken, as the sun was nearly set, along Ridge Road in Burnside Township. No one then could imagine the danger of large group gatherings.
The fair has been a landmark event for the southwestern part of Clearfield County since the mid 1950’s. The grange itself predates the fair by decades.
Grange organizations, originally known as Patrons of Husbandry, have been a part of the rural American scene since 1867. There were once well over a dozen active granges in Clearfield County.
Being active meant meetings, disseminating information to aid local farmers in order to learn the latest agricultural techniques, life insurance policies, lobbying for legislation to aid family farms and perhaps most important; the social bonding and close working friendships developed by grange members.
In an era when ordinary folks did not often travel far and wide, many rural Americans tended to stay close to their communities, churches, schools and granges.
As grange numbers grew, so did their activities. Autumn grange fairs have been a part of the rural Pennsylvania landscape for more than a century.
The original Harmony Grange building is shown, probably in the 1940’s, with snow plowed high around it. The old building was dismantled to make way for the present building, shown in a photo, that houses many of the vendors and displays that make up much of the fair.
In keeping with grange fair tradition, livestock, garden produce, flowers and home canned foodstuffs are displayed and judged as best in their categories. Local kids and adults give their best efforts to win a blue, red or yellow ribbon.
The Harmony Fair boasts food stands, live bands and craft and merchandise sales. Two big attractions are the loudest and the dustiest. They are the tractor and truck pull contests. The last day of the fair features the parade.
Hopefully, the Harmony Grange Fair, as we’ve known it, will be back next September.