When northern Schuylkill had a fair of its own
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - The walking track at the Union Township Municipal Building. This land was previously the Catawissa Valley Fair Grounds, home to the Ringtown Fair.
RINGTOWN – The Schuylkill County Fair kicked off Monday near Summit Station, but, did you know northern Schuylkill once had a fair of its own?
Agricultural fairs are a Pennsylvania staple, be it Bloomsburg, Gratz, Allentown, Kutztown, and so many others.
Though, for 19 years in the late 19th century, folks from our area didn’t have to go far to visit one.
Just over Locust Mountain, the Catawissa Valley Agricultural and Industrial Association hosted the Ringtown Fair from 1871 until 1890.
It was held where the Union Township Municipal Building currently stands.
Union Township Supervisor Dave Briggs said last year that the barn on the property — once known as the Fair House — is all that’s left of the grounds.
Jim Haas, in a 1955 edition of the Evening Herald, said the event flourished in our own backyard.
“Special excursion trains brought great crowds from regional towns to the annual showing,” Haas wrote.
In a 1976 edition of the Herald, Helena Kovalewski wrote that “Ringtown was indeed lively during fair week.”
“In addition to harness races and livestock exhibits, there were judging contests of produce, food, and handicrafts,” Kovalewski wrote. “Booths displayed the latest in pianos, organs, sewing machines, and farm equipment.”
She added that a merry-go-round, was also present, powered by a real horse walking around its center.
“Fair week was an event looked forward to by young and old and spirits ran high,” she wrote.
The walking trail now at the township building roughly follows the old race course on site.
The Ringtown Fair wasn’t the only one in northern Schuylkill County either. The Evening Herald in 1958 mentions a Lavelle Fair as another fair of days gone by.
Not much is recorded about that event, other than it being held too in the late 19th century.
Now, the nearest fairs are more than half an hour or 20 miles away — either in Summit Station, Bloomsburg, and Gratz.
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Very interesting! All of it! Enjoyed reading about the Fair! Interesting things done there! Overall. The articles. We’re well put together! Thank you for sharing!