Local perspective: Fair brings town together for 11th year
by David Marks
For most people in Perry Hall, the town fair is simply one more thing to do on a lazy summer day.
They can take an hour to stroll along Ebenezer Road, browsing the booths. Their children can pet the ponies or play a game. And when that is done, there are heaps of food they can pile on their plates.
But for the volunteers who organize the fair, it’s the culmination of months of hard work. The first meeting is usually held in January. Over the next six months, permits are gathered, sponsors are solicited, and vendors are finalized. It’s no easy feat. Then, on the day of the town fair, a handful of volunteers get to the high school well before sunrise, and they sometimes do not leave until after dark.
I have worked on five of the eleven town fair committees, and I can tell you that the day of the festival is an exhausting experience.
But it has its rewards. Most importantly, the town fair is the one day of the year when Perry Hall comes together, when thousands of people converge at Perry Hall High School to have fun, meet friends, and learn what is going on in the community.
Another reward, quite frankly, is the money. The town fair raises tens of thousands of dollars, and that goes right back into the community. Over the past few years, the profit from the town fair has supported the White Marsh Volunteer Fire Company, the high school marching band, Boy Scout troops, and the renovation of the Perry Hall Mansion.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s only been eleven years since the town fair started. I can remember the first one, which premiered on a bright, sunny day on the grounds of Perry Hall Middle School.
There have been glitches over the years, to be sure.
The very first year, the owner of a nearby shopping center threatened to tow away the cars.
The second year, there was a brief shower—the only time in eleven years that rain ever threatened the festival.
And for awhile, mostly due to construction at one site or another, the fair moved around to different locations, finally settling into its familiar spot along Ebenezer Road.
It is now a mainstay for the community. Children who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s can remember the carnivals at Lassahn Field, which is now a housing development. I’d like to think that children growing up today will remember the town fair as a special moment that will always remind them of the best of Perry Hall.
Not surprisingly, as the town fair has grown, so has the organization that sponsors it.
For more than three decades, business owners tinkered with an organization that might serve as a “chamber of commerce” for Perry Hall. Nothing seemed to work. Then, in the mid-1990s, several business owners started the Perry Hall Business and Professional Association. Under the leadership of Don Bollhorst, the association started the inaugural town fair. With that seminal event, the association took root in the community.
Thanks to four strong Presidents – Don Bollhorst, Craig Hall, Angela DeBrigida, and Lynn Richardson – the association has become a driving force in the community. Read one of the monthly newsletters and you will see dozens of members listed in the association’s registry – everything from mechanics to insurance agents. It has a new name now – the Perry Hall-White Marsh Business Association – that reflects the need to reach out to areas beyond Interstate-95 and White Marsh Boulevard.
The association gives its members an opportunity to share ideas and network, but it also provides a forum for business owners to speak with one voice. When the Perry Hall Improvement Association enlisted other organizations to support a new high school, one of the most important groups was the Perry Hall-White Marsh Business Association.
As the President of the Perry Hall Improvement Association, one of the first calls I often make is to my counterpart in the business association, Lynn Richardson. Lynn is also the only person who has volunteered on every single town fair since 1997.
By now, the only sign that the 2007 fair ever occurred is the series of dashes along Ebenezer Road that mark where vendors are placed. But it will be back next year, just as sure as there are parents and children who relish a good day in the hot summer sun.
David Marks is a longtime community activist and author of a book on the history of Perry Hall.