It’s the annual event of the summer, and it has been for over sixty years.

The Lebanon Area Fair may be taking a different form in 2020, but change is nothing new for the fair, which has been experimenting since its initial inception as the Lebanon County 4-H Fair in 1957 and its move to the Lebanon Valley Fair Grounds in 1969. It can trace its 4-H Club and Future Farmers of America roots back even earlier than that. Here’s how Lebanon County’s biggest summertime draw grew out of earlier area agriculture shows and continuously reinvented itself over the course of six decades.

Early fairs of the south Lebanon area

The Champion Heifer and Reserve Champ, along with owners Frank Reist and Richard Moyer, in the results of a Future Farmers of America competition held at the first South Lebanon Township Community Fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 26 Oct. 1945)

Long before the Lebanon Area Fair as we know it was organized, there were similar fairs held occasionally in the 1920s and ’30s. A South Lebanon “corn show” was held as early as 1923, and in 1930, a South Lebanon Township Show was attended by over 1,000 people.

Even before those two was the Lebanon Valley Fair, which was held as early as 1881 and ran until 1938. This fair drew in crowds in the thousands and featured many equestrian events and races.

But there was one event that caught on more than any other: the South Lebanon Township Community Fair. First held in 1945 by retired Lebanon County Agent A. C. Berger, the fair quickly became a big annual hit for the area. Though typically held for just a few days in October on the grounds of the Iona School, the event regularly drew in thousands of patrons. It was officially incorporated and granted a state charter in 1947 and expanded significantly afterwards.

The fair had close ties to the 4-H Club from the beginning. Berger himself is credited with introducing the organization into Lebanon County in 1917 (4-H itself was started in the Midwest and “effectively nationalized” in 1914, according to the National 4-H History Preservation Program website).

Three young men prepare to put up a tent on the grounds of the Iona School in South Lebanon, one of eleven tents — “almost 50,000 square feet of canvas” — at the 1952 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 29 Sept. 1952)
Tractor-driving champion Robert Smith of Palmyra poses during the 1954 South Lebanon Township Community Fair. Tractor driving competitions were a popular event of the fair and its successor. (The Lebanon Daily News, 6 Oct. 1954)
Part of a page advertising the South Lebanon Community Fair, including livestock tips, contest notices, commercial ads, and FFA competitor Robert Ulrich showing off his hybrid corn. (Lebanon Daily News, 26 Sept. 1953)

Local youth agricultural divisions of the 4-H Club and the Future Farmers of America competed in livestock and produce competitions, grade school students participated in everything from wood burning to musical performance, and many educational and commercial exhibitions were erected on the grounds of the school.

The fair was a staple of the fall season for much of the 1950s and only grew in popularity over time: the Lebanon Daily News reported that the 1947 fair had broken attendance records at the time with 7,000 visitors in all, while on just the first night of the 1956 fair, 8,000 crowded in to see the livestock and attractions.

The birth of the Lebanon County 4-H Fair

Fair planners prepare for the 1958 Lebanon County 4-H Fair. From bottom left, clockwise: Joseph K. Kreider, Denis W. Hoke, W. Harry Schaeffer Jr., Joseph M. Kreider, and Carl Graybill. (The Lebanon Daily News, 9 Jan. 1958)

In 1957, the Iona School was preparing for the next-door construction of the South Lebanon Elementary school, and Joseph K. Kreider, president of the fair’s board of directors, announced that the fair would be cancelled for the year. The cancellation of the South Lebanon Township Fair was a disappointment for many at the time, but less than a month after the cancellation notice, the Lebanon 4-H Club had announced plans to hold the first Lebanon County 4-H Fair in August at the Ebenezer School. Kreider was also elected president of the new fair’s board of directors.

Donald Bollinger and his sheep, shorn in just 12 minutes and 20 seconds. (The Lebanon Daily News, 12 Aug. 1958)

In its first year, the fair boasted the usual livestock and produce displays, as well as beekeeping, chicken barbecue, and tractor driving contests, among other attractions.

“It will be a small show this year,” associate county agricultural agent W. Harry Schaeffer Jr. told the Lebanon Daily News on July 2. “However, we hope to make it an annual event.”

A schedule for the 1965 Lebanon County 4-H Fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 2 Aug. 1965)
The square dance group Promenaders, which drew record crowds to the first night of the 1966 Lebanon County 4-H Fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 2 Aug. 1966)
Cherie Tobias, Laurrae Miller, and Tanya Parker, winners of the 4-H Horse and Pony Show held in 1967. (The Lebanon Daily News, 17 Aug. 1967)

Schaeffer was correct on both counts: the fair saw a relatively small turnout in the hundreds, but the fair did return year after year. As it grew in size, it relocated around the county, first in 1959, when it moved to Fredericksburg Firemen’s Park, and just a few years later in 1962 when it relocated again to the H&H Farm in Annville.

The events and attractions multiplied over the years. Square dancing, apiculture displays, horse and pony shows, and technical exhibitions all became part of the lineup.

A full page of highlights from what would be the last Lebanon County 4-H Fair before it became the Lebanon Area Fair. Click here to view a high-resolution version of the page. (The Lebanon Daily News, 16 Aug. 1968)

The fair is renamed, moved to Rocherty and Cornwall

Victor Baumgardner, Joseph M. Kreider, and Amos Balsbaugh survey the then-new site of the Lebanon Fair Grounds. (The Lebanon Daily News, 18 April 1969)

In 1968, the Lebanon Valley Exposition Corporation was created by 12 locals, two thirds of them 4-H leaders. The group was looking for a new home for the fair, and found the perfect site for it at the old farmstead of Alexander Bamberger at the intersection of Rocherty and Cornwall Roads. The group bough the 52-acre property for $44,760 in July, and over the next 12 months, began working on what would become the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center and Fairgrounds.

In 1969, the rechristened five-day Lebanon Area Fair opened at the new location, boasting 1,510 classes, including 354 classes of poultry. Only a refreshment stand stood on the property as a permanent structure, while tents provided shade and space.

Work progresses on one of the first Expo Center buildings in 1972. (The Lebanon Daily News, 11 Aug. 1972)
Commercial exhibitors set up for the 1975 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 9 Aug. 1975)

In contrast to the early years of the fair, which took place more or less entirely in tents, the ’70s saw more events and activities both inside newly built halls of the Exposition Center as well as out in the open air, including a special flag dedication ceremony held during the country’s bicentennial in 1976. By that time, the grounds included a picnic pavilion, a livestock barn, an exhibit building, a horse ring, three livestock and dairy pole barns, and, of course, the refreshment stand.

In 1990, a massive expansion and renovation project began, which included the construction of the $500,000 Lebanon Valley Agricultural Center adjacent to the Expo Center proper. The completed project tripled the existing exhibition space, according to a 2007 Lebanon Daily News article by Barbara West for the fair’s 50th anniversary. A new computer system was installed in 1997 to manage the dizzying number of entries and prizes of the week-long affair.

Several young boys struggle with their animals at the 1984 fair. (The Lebanon Daily news, 7 Aug. 1984)
Fair coordinators Jodi Kreider and Angie Bollinger work ahead of the 1991 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 15 June 1991)

The fair’s focus on agriculture and farming was expanded over the years, with many vendors and local businesses advertising their products or services to the rapidly expanding crowds (over 40,000 in 1973 and many later years). Exhibition numbers and livestock entries ballooned into the hundreds. Tractor driving contests continued to pull in the crowds, as did talent shows, youth singing, livestock sales, dancing, footraces, acrobatics, rodeos, concerts, and virtually every other kind of event imaginable.

For the more daring fairgoers, the fair began to offer demolition derbies (1978), motocross bike races (1986), fireworks, and exotic animal attractions, including monkeys, elephants, lions, zedonks (zebra-donkey hybrids), and much more.

A macaque takes a ride in the 1992 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 31 July 1992)
A demolition derby underway, closing out the 1996 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 4 Aug. 1996)
Tractor hot rod? A competitor drives a Super Stock class tractor in the 1998 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 30 July 1998)

Special visitors dropped in occasionally, including the Pennsylvania Honey Queen and state gubernatorial candidates. The Lebanon Area Fair got some royalty of its own with the annually crowned Fair Queen tradition beginning in the late 1980s.

The wide variety of food available at the fair took on a reputation of its own, with french fries and milkshakes becoming a particular customer favorite (a recipe switch to frozen potatoes in 1987 met backlash, and fresh, home-grown potatoes were back in the kitchen in 1988). Massive crowds often caused traffic problems on local roads, with bumper-to-bumper traffic reported in the early 1980s. In recent years, the attendance has been reported to be around 50,000.

Exhausted fair queen Beth Kreider takes a moment of rest at the 2000 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 2 Aug. 2000)
A 5K race begins at the 2005 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 26 July 2009)

All kinds of farm animals from rabbits to chickens to lambs were judged, as were a vast array of crops and plants. The livestock and agriculture competitions were sometimes influenced by external factors. In some years, hoses and fans were in heavy use to keep animals cool and comfortable during hot summertime weather.

In 1988, a local drought reduced the vegetable crop on display as growers resorted to more difficult irrigation techniques to produce their plants well, and in 1994, a bovine diarrhea outbreak significantly impacted the the dairy contests. Avian flu swept through the county for several years in the late 1990s before poultry returned to the fair in 1999. Good soil practices and horticulture techniques were a mainstay of the exhibitions.

A rodeo at the 2005 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 2 Aug. 2005)
Then-Gov. Ed Rendell inks campaign posters at the 2006 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 16 Oct. 2006)
Nathan Shanaman’s goat is judged at the 2008 fair. (The Lebanon Daily News, 30 July 2008)

Many dozens of volunteers and planners have made the Lebanon Area Fair into the summertime staple it is today, and planning for the next year’s event begins many, many months in advance. Hundreds of local businesses have come together to promote the economy of the Lebanon Valley. Thousands of 4-H Club and Future Farmers of America competitors and entries into livestock and crop classes have provided a backbone and driving force to the fair from before it was even created.

There may be carnival rides, exhibition booths, stunt competitions, animals from the far ends of the globe, and more, but at its heart, the Lebanon Area Fair is a celebration of the county’s bounty and the people who raise it and share it with everyone else.

And that’s not going away anytime soon.

The Lebanon Area Fair in 2019. (Will Trostel)

Do you have a memory of attending an earlier Lebanon Area Fair? Share it with our newsroom using the form below and we’ll use it to inspire future LebTown stories.

More coverage of the Lebanon Area Fair


Help us provide journalism Lebanon County needs.
If you are thankful for LebTown, consider joining as a member. Members get an inside look at our publishing schedule each week, plus invites to a members-only Facebook group and happy hours.

Learn more and join now here.

Full Disclosure: The Lebanon Area Fair is an advertiser on LebTown. LebTown does not make editorial decisions based on advertising relationships and advertisers do not receive special editorial treatment. Learn more about advertising with LebTown here.

Josh Groh is a Cornwall native and writer who began reporting for LebTown in 2019. He continued to regularly contribute to LebTown while earning a degree in environmental science at Lebanon Valley College, graduating in 2021. Since then, he has lead conservation crews in Colorado and taken on additional...

Comments

LebTown membership required to comment.

Already a member? Login here

Leave a comment

Kindly keep your comments brief and respectful. We will remove comments that do not abide by these simple rules.