A cow is about to be judged at a previous Bloomburg Fair.
Times Leader file photo
Popular event continues through Sept. 28
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Exhibits at the Bloomsburg Fair typically show the bounty of Pennsylvania’s agriculture.
Times Leader file photo
A handler leads a miniature horse around a ring during a previous Bloomsburg Fair.
Times Leader file photo
Where can you find folks stomping grapes, little kids riding sheep until they fall off, and an expert showing you how to properly saddle a horse?
It’s the same place where you’ll find harness racing, a fiddle competition and, this year for the first time, people gazing down on the activity below from the vantage point of a hot air balloon.
Here you can listen to the California sound of the Beach Boys, the Christian tunes of Casting Crowns, the polkas of Stanky and the Pennsylvania Coalminers, the harmony of barbershoppers and many other styles of music.
By now you must have guessed all this and more will take place at the 169th annual Bloomsburg Fair, which opens today Sept. 20 with preview day and continues through Sept. 28 at the fairgrounds in Bloomsburg.
Fair food is always a draw, and no doubt you’ll find the familiar barbecues, pizza, deep-fried desserts and ice cream.
But perhaps this will be your year to try something new — whether it’s a “PA Dutch taco” from the Flying Cauldron Cafe, fried jalapeno on a stick from D Squared Concessions, a shrimp po’ boy or oysters on the half shell from the Bad Mother Shuckers stand or alligator bites, frog legs, yak, and python from Feed the Beast.
For more food vendors and a list of scheduled entertainment, check out the fair’s website and Facebook page.
Just a few of the other attractions include a chocolate exhibit, a 4H horse and pony drill, a demonstration on how to make old-fashioned sauerkraut, an opportunity for kids to milk an imitation cow, and a chance for youngsters to try “Mutton Busting,” in which they hang onto/ride a sheep, cowboy style, until the animal butts them off.
There’s even a Dad Joke Contest set for 6 p.m. Sept. 26 in the Keystone Agricultural Building. And surely growers of pumpkins and all sorts of fruit and vegetables will have their best on display.
Free entertainment includes the “I Blew It” balloon art of Lanny Lee, a Wild West Show, and the music of the Barnyard Cackle Review with Rocky Da Rooster and his Singing Hens.
You can enter a dog show and see various breeds for the modest price of 50 cents. If you want to try a hot air balloon ride, that’s a bit pricier — with admission starting at $25 for a tethered adventure. For an untethered ride, it’s $375 per person in the morning and $400 per person later in the day.
The list of musical entertainers includes The Beach Boys, Riley Green, John Morgan, Casting Crowns, David Leonard, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Foghat, Bat Out Of Hell PA, Clockwork-Band, Chris Ruble, Clark Jackson Music, Halfway To HELL – AC/DC Tribute, Into the Spin, Jesse Garron’s Elvis Tribute, Stanky and the PA Coalminers, Josh Squared, Journey Bank Teen Star, Julia Neville Music, Looker, Lovelace, The Mahoney Brothers, The Moore Brothers, Ole 97 Johnny Cash June Carter Tribute Band, Pat Garrett, RICK K. Road Trip, Sapphire, The Suns of Beaches Band and The Uptown Band.
The fair opens at 7 a.m. each day except for Sept. 20, which is preview day with gates opening at 2 p.m. and general admission $3 rather than the customary $8.
Children younger than 12 are admitted free every day; seniors 65 and older are admitted free on Sept. 23; students 13 through 18 are admitted free Sept. 24 and Sept. 27 and there is free admission for veterans and current service members with ID on Sept. 25.