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125 Years Ago - 1885
    Printer Dies - Died at the residence of J. W. Peters in Ligonier, Ind. on Sunday, September 20th was William H. Peters, aged 25 years, 6 months and 12 days. In the name of the deceased will be recognized as a former resident of Middleburgh, and a former employee of the Middleburg Post. May he rest in peace.
    The Freeburg Courier reports that Hon. Chas. Miller of Penn Township has seeded eighty acres in wheat.

100 Years Ago - 1910
   George K. Moatz of Middleburg, a member of the Sunbury Automobile Club participated in the contest from Sunbury to Wilkes Barre making the run in 3 hours and 41 minutes, the winning time being 3 hours and 37 minutes. Thus, he was four minutes short of the winning mark.
    The Swineford Bank has erected the foundation for a magnificent new porch in front of the Banking home.
    Jefferson Lenig of Union Township bought a new Mitchell automobile. Jeff wants to travel fast.
     Harry Landis, clerk in N.S. Garman's store in Richfield, has been nursing a very sore hand for some time. However, it is improving. He also lost his mustache and the girls are feeling very sorry for him.

50 Years Ago - 1960
    The sale of Cora Landis in the Cherry Hill area of Richfield was very well attended Saturday. Articles sold brought a fair price. Merrill Hoffman bought the home and farm for $8300.
    The Middleburg Joint High School band will present several concerts on Sunday at Rolling Green Park.

35 Years Ago - 1975
   Eighty-four kettles of soup were made during the 84th annual Bean Soup celebration held last week in McClure. This is not a record as rain on Friday cut down the attendance. The soup making went like this: Tuesday 11 kettles; Weds. 9 kettles; Thurs 8 kettles; Friday 18 kettles; Saturday 40 kettles.
    The Democratic Rally was held Friday evening at the Bean Soup with Lt. Governor Ernest Kline the speaker.

From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

The History Of The Beaver Fair

    The first Beaver Fair was announced to the pupils of the grade schools of Beaver Springs and Beavertown on Wednesday, October 9, 1929 by the Beaver Vocational High School Principal, Prof. Ira G. Sanders. He, along with the vo-ag teacher, Mr. Arthur Townsend and the Home Economics teacher, Miss Hazel Crist had developed plans for students to display home grown and home made foods and items.

    Prof. Sanders made a surprise announcement to the students for them to bring in all manners of fruit and vegetable exhibits the next day. This was very ad hoc, with no record existing of method of exhibition or matters of quality or type of exhibits that would be displayed.

    Then, on Thursday evening after school, the pupils' contri-butions were transported to the Beaver Vocational High School gymnasium, where booths and spaces for exhibitions had been set up and arrangements made for the various grade school classes. High school students had their own section for different organizations of the High school to display their contributions to the event.

    Then, on Friday, October 11, 1929 the exhibits were opened for viewing and judging. There is a story of that first "fair" that one exhibit contained some overripe tomatoes. Others of better quality were quickly taken and used to surround the overripe ones. The judges, being inexperienced and not too interested in investigating, ended up giving the display a First Prize Ribbon.

    Regardless of some few instances of this type, the Fair was deemed a success by those attending and as time went on, more definite requirements were set in place and exhibits became more elaborate and took on themes dealing with an agricultural nature.

     In later years, adults were permitted to set up exhibits and they made the wise decision to include livestock exhibits outdoors, with poultry, rabbits, and other small animals set up in the Vo-Ag shop and class-rooms. Rented tents were set up for livestock on the athletic field.

    Appearing throughout the years were various conces-sions, eating stands, and games. More athletic events and contests were held and the school even provided busing for pupils from surrounding schools and districts.

    Soon, stage productions and one act plays took place for the entertainment of the local crowds. Talent and beauty contests were held, with the Fair crowning the first Miss Susque-hanna Valley Beauty Contest in 1950. Shows of hypnotism and male quartet contests were also held on the stage and proved to be ways to raise money for the fair.

     From 1955 to 1957 the location and the continuance of the fair was uncertain and with the   remodeling   of   the    West Snyder   High    School,   it   was

Hundreds of solo and group performances have graced the stage of The Beaver Fair throughout the years. Some rising stars and some whose star was fading entertained the Snyder County audiences through music, talent and beauty contests, and even displays of hypnotism in years past.

deemed that the fair had to be moved to a better location. The West Snyder School Board agreed to lease a 3 1/2 acre plot of woodland that had to be cleared and leveled for the purpose of continuing the Fair tradition.

    None of these things could have been accomplished without the gracious support of the citizens of the community. Not only did they give generously in financial donations, but also in donations of materials and labor.

     The West Snyder Young Farmers’ Association donated the labor necessary to cut all the timber trees from the fair’s present site, hauled the logs to the sawmill, hauled the finished lumber back to the fairground and stacked the lumber to be used which was later used in construction of the first buildings on the grounds.

     Several years later, in the early 1960’s, William and Meriam Markley noted the need for additional parking space and donated a triangular tract about the size of the original plot and to the south of the original plot making the fairgrounds nearly a rectangular plot of about seven acres.

    Today, it is Snyder County's only Agricultural Fair and draws large crowds for its food, enter-tainment, and agricultural contests. This years Fair runs from September 18th through the 25th and will surely generate more memories for the future.