Warm Farm Show Weather and Memories!

The 92^nd Pennsylvania Farm Show comes to a record-breaking conclusion this weekend.  As usual, it was a week long celebration of our agricultural industry.  There were mountains of mouth-watering food to consume, fine livestock in the barns, prize-winning poultry crowing about their awards, and bushels of blue-ribbon fruits and vegetables to make every gardener envious of the exhibitors’ green thumbs.  The shine on the farm machinery in the spacious halls reflected the faces of youngsters and oldsters who dreamed of driving the tractor or field implement at home.  Farm organizations and universities teamed up to educate the public about our agricultural industry.  All of this excitement was displayed inside our fantastic Farm Show facility with all of its recent renovations attached to the historic complex that has been the foundation of this annual event since the early 1900s.

Farm Show is a magnet that pulls people from all walks of life to our State Capital no matter what challenges the January weather brings with it.  My first memories of Farm Show take me back to my childhood, when I stood gazing up at enormous tractors while holding tight to my father’s hand.  I would stand patiently waiting for what seemed hours as his conversation with friends he bumped into, or dealers who would try to sell him something, went on “forever.”

Finally we would get to the horse barn where equally enormous equine horse power stomped their feet and shifted their rumps as we walked cautiously behind their open-ended stalls.  Their hooves and metal shoes would make the concrete resonate with each step, reminding all of us to stay a safe distance away from their feet as they proudly pranced their way to and from competition in the large arena.  Even though I am several feet taller now, I still feel small when standing close to these gentle giants at Farm Show.  Their steady hoof beats bring the same excitement and well-deserved respect from the crowds of spectators that they did decades before.  Their teamwork and horse power continue to be a major Farm Show attraction.

This year’s expanded Food Court found me joining the long lines of people waiting to enjoy the traditional mouth-watering delicacies that make the Farm Show visit complete: baked potatoes, pork sandwiches, and creamy milkshakes.  Newer menu items featuring fish, chicken, cheese, mushrooms, soups, fruit drinks, sweet potatoes, and the list goes on, made it hard to decide which flavorful food line to wait in first.  January’s Farm Show week is not the best time to start a diet.

However, the one thing you can always count on Farm Show to bring was missing this year.  The week-long onslaught of frigid weather was replaced by spring-like temperatures that gave exhibitors and visitors the rare opportunity to shed heavy jackets, hats and gloves and stroll comfortably inside or outside the Complex acres wearing merely sweatshirts or light jackets.  I even saw one brave soul in shorts and a sleeveless shirt.  This was not the Farm Show weather we have come to expect.

I couldn’t help but remember prior years when twelve inches of snow or more added excitement to the trip to and from Harrisburg.  In the days before four-wheel drive and Interstate 81, the small slopes on MacClay Street would snarl traffic as car tires spun out on the snow-covered road.  People would work together to push stuck cars up the hill to get them out of the way of waiting motorists.

The years with freezing rain were much worse on the nerves and heart rate than the snow storms.  The highways and parking lots turned into skating rinks.  I’ll never forget the first year Mike and I hauled our Hereford calves to Farm Show in Dad’s old cattle truck and what started as rain switched to ice.  We watched a PennDOT truck in front of us bounced off the concrete barrier on an overpass as it slid helplessly on the slick road surface.

Our hazards didn’t end once we finally pulled up to the Farm Show loading dock, however.  The footing for our fresh-off-the-farm calves made their arrival most memorable as their traction and ours disappeared on the ice-covered platform.  We slipped and slid but eventually made it inside the doors without catapulting off the elevated platform or splaying out on the ice.  Those memories are almost comical now, but they were far from funny at the time.  With the mild temperatures and clear skys we enjoyed this year, a whole new meaning may be connected to “Farm Show” weather!

Reminiscing about Farm Shows past is one of the best parts of this yearly extravaganza that brings people from all over the Commonwealth and from other states to experience our state’s farm industry.  It’s a time for renewing acquaintances with fellow farmers whose paths we cross only at this special time of year.  Young people and those of us who are well-seasoned Farm Show folks look forward to sharing stories about the past and catching up on each others’ lives.

This year I met a woman named Emma Cornman Crouse as I was walking out of the large arena following the beef show.  She and her husband were just arriving as most of us were leaving.  Seventy-four-year-old Emma had driven from her home in West Virginia to re-live a favorite childhood memory --- showing “Baby Beef” at Farm Show.  When I had to break the news to Emma that she was a day late to watch the 4-H and FFA junior beef show and market steer competition, I saw the disappointment cross her face.  We started talking about her 4-H experience a half century before when she led her project steer through the same building where we stood that day.

Emma recalled how she had won the showmanship contest two consecutive years --- 1948 and 1949.  Even though her family owned a dairy farm in Cumberland County, and her father showed their registered Holsteins, Emma preferred showing her Angus and Hereford market steers.  Back then, she explained, the club leaders would go to Virginia and buy a load of steers.  Each 4-Her would be given one of those steers to raise and show.  Emma remarked that the steers today are far different than the steers she and her brother showed.  Back then the steers were short-legged and smaller framed.  By contrast, today’s Farm Show market steers would be giants, and they no longer are purchased by the 4-H leaders by the truckload.  Each member purchases the type of steer they like, paying for it individually rather than as a club.

It was fun to hear Emma’s story and I admired her gumption as a young girl showing 4-H steers from 1943 to 1952.  At that time, there were fewer females her age willing to tackle a market steer project, or compete with farm boys.  My hat goes off to Emma for leading the way.  She nearly won the showmanship contest for a third straight year in 1950, but the judge noticed she was chewing gum in the showring.  Emma related that her mistake stopped her from chewing gum for years after that disappointment at Farm Show.

Emma was not the first or last 4-Her to experience the elation of a championship title, or the disappointment of a disqualifying mistake at Farm Show.  The important lessons that Farm Show brings to exhibitors and visitors alike, will last a lifetime.

Like Emma, take time to share those Farm Show memories with other folks.  You never know who will benefit from hearing them.

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