3Let’s Do It! The Great Frederick Fair

Price of admission ensures safety standards

Being a vendor is not a free ride

By Evan RudermanMiddletown High School

Every year, the Great Frederick Fair wel-comes back familiar booths and introduces new stands. Not every vendor can mark their territory here so easily; each booth has to go through a certain process to secure a spot in the fair.

“You have to apply to the fair board, and they decide whether they want your business and if they have space for you,” said Denise Hoover. Hoover works at the Randy’s Can-dies booth, which has been at the fair for 7 years.

The first thing someone wanting to have a booth at the fair would do is submit a request form to the fair. Alice Stevens, office manager of the fair, said that it was on a “first come first serve” basis.

“We probably had at least a hundred re-quests this year,” Stevens said. Only about 25 are accepted, and they are chosen by what types of vendors they need.

Plots are sold by each 10 feet of frontage, at 675 dollars per plot. “Most of the vendors are very satisfied with that price,” Stevens added.

When asked, most vendors were very happy with how the fair treated them and their booths.

Robert Hensley, who works at the Liberty Li-ons Club booth, said, “We make more here than anywhere else.” The Lions Club has used their booth at the fair for charity for almost 34 years.

Photo by Evan RudermanFair-goers browse the stretch of vendors encompassing the Great Frederick Fair.

Bill Willingham, a server at Layton’s Con-cessions, was also pleased with the condi-tions at the fair. “They treat us pretty good,” Willingham said. He also said that there have rarely been any problems between the booth and the fair.

Requests, fees all part of the process

By Freddy Roberts and Kiley HillMiddletown High School

Each year, the Great Frederick Fair brings fun and joy to thousands of families in the tri-state area.

Parents and kids spend a great amount of money throughout this week; not just on food and entrance, but for the pleasure of laughs and smiles while security ensures the safety of the Frederick community.

Parents get as nervous here as they would at any other park but the safety is still guaranteed.

“The State Fire Marshall in Frederick in-spects all the rides that are in enclosed build-ings. Which includes making sure sprinklers are working and will go off if need be,” said Sue Hull, Public Relations Coordinator.

A family favorite, the Mardi Gras, is inspected each year for safety and fire.

Parents know that the ticket pricing is a lit-tle lofty; however, that doesn’t stop them from finding a way to bulk the prices together to save money.

“We usually go online to do the family four pack. It’s unlimited, and we can use it all day,” said Ashton Mullen, member of the Frederick community.

Melissa Compher, another member of the community, said she only spends a few hours at the carnival when buying a wristband.

There are many ways to buy tickets for the carni-val aspect of the fair, it’s just a matter of how fami-lies choose to spend their money.

“Every morning the fire rescue team gets togeth-er for a safety meeting to talk about the rides and the safety of the people,” said Hull.

Before the fair opens, the security sends in a list of all the rides to the state of Maryland for further inspection. All the rides that are submit-ted have a safety inspection. If the ride(s) are in an enclosed space, then there will be a fire in-spection along with a safety inspection to further ensure the safety of the riders.

Hull also said, “The inspections are like they would be for a car in a DMV.”

While deciding how to spend money, whether it’s actual tickets, wristbands, or the online family pack, it’s suitable for any amount of people in one group. Understand-ing the safety procedure the staff here goes through every year is extremely important; there’s no need to worry about the safety of children or adults.

2

The Great Frederick Fair Inc. and The Frederick County Agricultural

Society Inc. publish News as a general information service for its Life Members,

business clients and associates. Additional information regarding an of the matters published within may be obtained from

the Administration Office.

BOARD OFFICERSJoseph F. Devilbiss, Sr. – PresidentColby D. Hubble – Vice President

Robert W. Frank – SecretaryMaurice A. Gladhill – Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORSJohn E. Bare

Charles B. CramerClyde C. Crum

James S. GrimesNancy N. Hendricks

Nancy F. KellerJacqueline L. Kreh

John P. MurphyJacob R. Ramsburg, Jr.

The Great Frederick Fair Inc. is a member of:

The Maryland Association of Agricultural Fairs and Shows Inc.

The International Association of Fairs

and Expositions

The Chamber of Commerce of Frederick County

The Frederick County Tourism CouncilThe Pennsylvania Association of Fairs

How to Reach Us...The Administration Office at

The Great Frederick Fair is open from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. M – F

301.663.5895 p301.663.9719 f

www.thegreatfrederickfair.com

Our street address is 797 E. Patrick Street

By mail, address materials to P.O. Box 604, Frederick, MD 21701

The circle of life never fails to entertain the fair-goers

By Adrienne Lowery and Even Moreland

Middletown High School

At the Great Frederick Fair, one of the most popular attractions is the Birthing Center. Every year, groups, families and children look forward to seeing all of the animals that are born here and this year is no exception.

The birthing center has already been the site of the births of four calves. Two of the cows in the birthing center are still expected to deliver within the next few days as of Tues-day, Sept. 22, while one of them nurtures her newborn calf.

“Believe it or not, people love the babies but everyone wants to see one (a cow) give birth.” Said Veronica Hodges, who works and maintains the birthing center. Baby animals might be incredibly cute, but everyone wants to experience that special moment of one opening their eyes for the first time.

Some parents believe that it is important to witness because “it is an introduction to human birth,” said observer Shannon Green.

Hodges said that once the calves are born, they return back to the farm, where the farm-er “will decide whether or not to sell the

calves.” All of the cows that have given birth and that are expected to give birth are from the Char Mar Farms.

The Birthing Center is not only a teaching facility but it is also the setting where the newest life at the fair begins. The Birthing Center is one of the many factors that makes the Great Frederick Fair great.

Photo by First LastA mother cow bonds over cleaning her new baby who was born late Monday night.

“Believe it or not, people love the babies, but everyone wants to see (a cow) give birth.”

-Veronica Hodges

4 Let’s Do It! The Great Frederick Fair

Great grub can be sweet and savoryBy Abbe Pannucci and Aniston Morris

Middletown High School

You can’t come to the Great Frederick Fair and not follow your nose to one of the fabu-lous food stands. With so much variety of good eats, it’s hard to choose whether you want sweet, savory or both. Those with di-etary restrictions may find it harder than most to find food, but some fair vendors pro-vide options for them as well. If you have a sweet tooth, plac-es like Southern Concessions, Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes, Cumberland Valley Con-cessions and the many different ice cream and snow cone stands are for you.

At Cumberland Valley Con-cessions you can indulge in all the fried foods you love. This company has been coming to the fair for thirty years, serving up their yummy funnel cakes and fried Oreos. They do; however, deep fry their food in peanut oil, which many people who have nut allergies cannot eat. To warn

customers, Cumberland Valley posts a sign with this informa-tion. Like Cumberland Valley, Hemps fries their french fries in peanut oil, warning custom-ers with an allergy-alert sign. French fries are not the pride and joy of Hemps; Pit, BBQ and roast beef, as well as ham are the stars of the show. This year is the company’s thirtieth year providing fair-goers with deli-cious BBQ and they do not in-tend on leaving.

Billy Hemp, colonel to the Hemps operation said their roast beef is the best thing to get if you stop by his family’s stand.

“We have got your grandma’s soul food at Uncle Moe’s,” said Cyle Hawkins from Uncle Moe’s Soul Food.

Customers can enjoy scrump-tious catfish and other soul food at Uncle Moe’s, just like the way it is down south. If you are veg-etarian, don’t fret; the stand serves healthy salads and veg-

gie wraps as well. They can also cater to gluten free folks by grill-ing their famous catfish instead of frying it.

If you fancy a bit of sweet and savory visit Carroll Manor Fire Department’s grilled cheese shop. They have been serving varieties of grilled cheese ac-companied with soup at the fair sense 1954.

Martha Houck, president of the operation said she thinks they go through at least ten pounds of cheese on a slow day. Houck add-ed that while their sandwiches are good, the soup is even better. She suggests the best way to eat a grilled cheese would be to dip it in warm tomato soup.

The fair may be one of the best places to go for some good old fried food and BBQ, and the dozens of choices don’t always discriminate against those with dietary restrictions. No matter where the smell takes you, there’s something fantastic to eat here at the Great Freder-ick Fair.

Photo by Abbe Pannucci Carroll Manor Fire Company offers a classic grilled cheese sandwich with a pickle and tomato soup on the side.

My Plate looks to educate about nutritionBy Garrett Baker

Middletown High School

The Great Frederick Fair has now intro-duced a new site that educates the youth about healthy eating and is a replacement for the food pyramid of the past; this is the “My Plate” initiative.

“My Plate” is a close model to the food pyramid with some minor adjustments in-stalled. It shows how much of each food group every person should be consuming.

The Great Frederick Fair programs manager, Karen Crum described the “My Plate” as an, “educational, interactive garden.”

The garden is shaped like a plate with four sections viewers are able to walk through on a nicely placed gravel path.

Each section is filled with various plants, such as sunflowers, fenced in.

The educational garden was a joint proj-ect between two non-profit organizations and The Great Frederick Fair.

Crum said that the project involved the Seeds of Life program, United Way of Fred-erick County Summer Serve, and The Great Frederick Fair.

The garden not only teaches but can ben-efit the community as well. All produce and products produced in the My Plate garden are given to the food banks or a farmers market.

The plate is extremely new as Dr. Kimber-ly Mazaleski said, “its potential is huge… but right now we are just beginning.”

Frederick County Public Schools has started to use the “My Plate” inside schools

for the children of today.One of the main goals of the project is to get

all children and adults eating healthier and liv-ing an improved lifestyle all around.

Jeff Longenberger, a tech teacher special-ist for grades kindergarten through twelve, added, “students perform the best when they’re healthy.”

Longenberger was on a team of individuals that was behind the design for the “My Plate” garden.

On Tuesday over 1,500 students from all over Frederick County are visiting the fair with schools and the majority of them will pass the “My Plate” garden.

Through the garden builders and designers are beginning to reach the youth of today by show-ing proportions and inserting their program into FCPS schools as soon as they can.

L e t ’ s D o I t ! T h e G r e a t F r e d e r i c k F a i r !

September 23, 2015 • Volume 1, No. 5

NEWSLETTERM E D I A C O R E

1Let’s Do It! The Great Frederick Fair

Egg-citing without the eggsBy Owen Migdal

Middletown High School

The Great Frederick Fair is as “egg-cel-lent” as ever, even without birds.

The Department of Agriculture an-nounced on Aug. 25, 2015, that chickens and other birds are not allowed to be at any fairs in the United States.

This is the result of the Avian Influenza, a viral disease affecting birds. Avian Influ-enza, or bird flu, occurs naturally and may spread by wildlife.

No human cases of the Avian Influenza viruses have been detected in the Unit-ed States, Canada or internationally and there is no immediate public health con-cern.

The poultry exhibition policy now says, “Due to the highly pathogenic Avian In-fluenza outbreak, out-of-state water fowl will not be allowed at exhibitions.”

Chicken and poultry that have been properly handled and cooked is safe to eat. The affected birds have been quarantined and will not affect the food supply. In addition, the movement of poultry from Canada is restricted and any movement or poultry products from quarantine zones one is prohibited.

Nancy Carlisle, the Superintendent of Poultry at the Great Frederick Fair, said, “It is carried primarily by Canadian Geese as they migrate from the north to the south for the winter. Maryland is one of

the pathways that those geese use. That’s why the Maryland Department of Agriculture has done this, to protect the poultry industry.”

States that are directly affected include Arkan-sas, Missouri, California, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, Wis-consin and Wyoming.

Poultry infected with the virus exhibit symp-toms such as decreased food consumption, hud-dling, depression, closed eyes, respiratory issues such as coughing and sneezing, decreased egg production, watery greenish diarrhea, excessive thirst, swollen wattles and combs, high mortali-ty rate and sudden death.

Photo by Owen MigdalBunnies are put in place of the chickens and other birds that are typically located in the poultry barn.

To prevent bird flu in your own backyard, keep distance between pets and outdoor wild-life, do not play with sick or dead birds and do not spend time with farm animals or exotic animals without sanitizing yourself afterwards. If you come in contact with a sick or deceased bird, wash your hands with soap and water.

Bird owners need to practice good bio- security, prevent contact between their birds and report sick birds or unusual bird deaths to state or federal officials, either through the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

To report sick birds, call the United States Department of Agriculture at 1-866-536-7593.

Birds banned from the fair this year