Celebrating 75 Years Of The Highland County Fair With Ellen Ratcliffe
This is Lucy Sax with the Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club. To celebrate the Highland County Fair’s 75th Anniversary, we are speaking with people who have been involved with the fair for many years. Today, we are speaking with Ellen Ratcliffe.
Thank you for joining us Ms. Ratcliffe. What are your earliest memories of the fair?
“Oh, goodness, over the years, of course, in high school, the band always marched, and, of course, then you had your animals to show and be that part. Sometimes younger kids would have their calves and pigs, just like they do now, and my father had triple calves one time, and he had them in the Fair, and that was down at the livestock market.”
“Also, of course, it began at the airport back at the landfill. Now, I don’t remember going there, I would have been very young anyway, but I lived in McDowell, Doe Hill area, so probably everybody stayed in their own vicinity, and that was the way it was.”
You are very well known for your involvement with square dancing. How has that been a feature of the fairs over the years.
“To begin with, the Fair always started with a square dance. Years ago, they started with a square dance, and it seemed like everybody may have been getting ready, getting their animals ready, their horses ready, and everything, but that was held on Wednesday night, and that was the kickoff for the Fair.”
“For the last few years, we’ve tried to have some kind of a square dance during the fair, and of course, we hope to have one again this year. Of course, it was associated with a couple clogging groups here in the county, also, and on Friday night, High Country always had a couple hour show in the cafeteria of the Highland High School, and that was quite popular, and we had a lot of fun doing it.”
This is the fair’s 75th year – why do you feel it is so important to the community?
“Well, of course, it gives our community and our clubs a chance to benefit from it. The Fair, the Maple Festival, is about the only way we have to do that for the clubs.”
Are there any special memories or events from over the years that stand out in your mind?
“Like say the parade, we marched in the parade – we had a band director who we absolutely loved, the late Walter Pitzenbarger. And so one year he decided he was going to gather some of the alumni students up, and we’d march in the parade. And yeah, it was, it was just so much fun, and then you had that camaraderie again, and it just meant the world to us, and we do it again!”
“And then one night they had wrestlers, I do remember that, and oh, those seats were so cold, those metal seats were so cold.”
Anything else?
“Just support your local groups, and so forth. And I can’t believe it’s 75 years.”
Thank you for speaking with us. This has been Lucy Sax, with the Highland Mid-Kids Radio Club for Allegheny Mountain Radio.
Story By
