Exhibits at the Bloomsburg Fair typically show the bounty of Pennsylvania’s agriculture.
Times Leader file photo
Popular event continues through Oct. 2
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A handler leads a miniature horse around a ring during a previous Bloomsburg Fair.
Times Leader file photo
A cow is about to be judged at a previous Bloomburg Fair.
Times Leader file photo
They want to see the big pumpkins, admire the animals, hear the music.
They want to smell the food, taste the food, go back for more of the food.
And, at least a few of them don’t mind driving in from out-of-state.
Because the Bloomsburg Fair is worth it.
At least, that’s the sense you get when you see what people are posting on the Facebook page for the 166th annual Bloomsburg Fair, which opens on Friday with preview day, hours 2 to 9 p.m. and admission $3 for ages 13 and older.
The fair continues from Saturday Sept. 25 through Saturday Oct. 2, with $8 general admission collected from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Seniors 65 and older, as well as current and former military personnel will be admitted free on Monday, and students 12 to 18 will be admitted free on Tuesday and on Oct. 1.
Grandstand entertainment includes country singer/songwriter Jon Pardi at 7:30 p.m. Friday, truck and tractor pulls at 7 p.m. Saturday, country pop singer Brett Young with Andrew Jannakos at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, ventriloquist Darci Lynne & Friends at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, contemporary Christian musician Crowder with special guest Freedom Calls on Tuesday; rock singer/songwriter Pat Benatar with Neil Giraldo at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Bruce in the USA tribute band to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at 8 p.m. Sept. 30, and rock band Chicago at 8 p.m. Oct. 1 and a demolition derby at 1 p.m. Oct. 2, followed by monster truck racing at 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at BloomsburgFair.com or through the box office at 570-387-4145.
There’s also plenty of free entertainment, including harness racing, appearances by trick roper Mackenzie Fish and magician TJ Hill, and concerts featuring a variety of bands and singers.
Show up on Monday morning, for example, and you could listen to musicians from Wyoming Valley West High School at 9 a.m., followed by North Pocono High School at 10 a.m., Make Mine Country at 11 a.m. and the polka music of Stanky and the Coal Miners at 12:30 p.m. That’s just one small segment of the schedule.
The complete schedule can be found at bloomsburgfair.com, where you’ll find dates and times for appearances by the 80s tribute band Sapphire, the bluegrass band the Greenwood Valley Boys, the doo-wop singers Rama-Lama and the classic oldies band The Mudflaps.
If you’re in the mood for a competition, a banjo contest is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, a fiddle contest is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and a “grape stomp challenge” will be held daily in the Keystone Agricultural Building, engaging “local celebrities in a head-to-head competition.”
Or maybe that’s foot to foot.