Every August, the Greene County Fair graces Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, bringing with it the fun and excitement of a year’s worth of hard work and planning. For many, fond memories have been made walking the fairgrounds – whether it be participating in the Livestock auction, riding rides, or just hanging out with friends.
Secretary Treasurer of the Greene County Fair and Greene County Fair Board Treasurer Debbie Stephenson has many of those memories herself from when she was little.
“My dad would always bring me to the fair when I was little and it was always a great time,” Debbie says. “Most of my friends sold livestock and I liked just going to hang out with them and getting to see friends old and new at the fair.”
Debbie still attends the Greene County Fair to this day, but now she is one of the many women behind the scenes who help run the fair each year. The fair may only be open for a few days to the public, but it takes Debbie and the rest of her co-workers all year to plan and pull off such a successful event. The fair has been running for over 100 years and is one of only two county-owned fairs in the state of Pennsylvania. It is because of the year-round work of people like Debbie that the fair has been able to thrive as long as it has.
“As soon as the fair ends the job of planning next year’s fair begins,” Debbie says. “It is a year-round job and I always say if you don’t love it then you are in the wrong business. There is a lot more to the fair then just going to the fair. We deal with sponsorships, entries, sharings for livestock and it varies with everything you have to do day-to-day.”
As soon as the fair ends, Stephenson and the Greene County Fair Board hold a meeting to talk about the past year’s fair. They discuss what worked, what didn’t, and work on the schedule for the next year’s fair as they try and continually improve the guest experience. Every fair is different, and the group works to try and improve the fair experience for everyone year in and year out.
Along with her duties at the Greene County Fair, Stephenson is also a State Fair Director, which gives her the opportunity to go around Pennsylvania to see how other fairs are run and bring those ideas back with her to these meetings.
“As soon as the fair is over, we hold a meeting to talk about things that worked well and things that didn’t,” Debbie says. “I am also a State Fair Director, so I go to a lot of fairs and see how they run things and I can bring those ideas back with me. We start hunting for fill-ins and can work on changing up the schedule so it’s fresher for the guests and gives us the opportunity to bring in new experiences for our fairgoers.”
As the fair gets closer, it is all about making sure everything is coming together and that there are no holes that have been missed. It is a stressful time for the board members, but they are not alone in their efforts to make the fair memorable. Debbie noted how the community has also played a big part in helping coordinate the fair.
“We have a wonderful group of people that we work with and get help from the community,” Debbie says. “It takes everyone with sponsors, advertisers, and everything else and we have people from the community asking us all the time what they can do to help.”
Along with Debbie, the fair board also has several other women working behind the scenes to make it run smoothly. Melody Longstreth is in charge of the Queen Contest, Carol Adamson runs the Livestock, Liz Marshall runs Home and Garden, and Betsy McClure helps support the fair as Greene County Commissioner along with several women and girls that help in the office. Without the work of all these women, the fair would not go off without a hitch as we see today.
“To have all these people come together to make the fair run is great,” Debbie says. “If something happens, we have people that can step up and fill the roles that we need to fill. There are so many components that go into the fair and I think people are beginning to realize that and are willing to do whatever it takes to make the fair run.”
At the end of the day, when the fair finally comes it is a chance for the workers and people involved to see their year-long work come to fruition. While there isn’t time to relax during the fair it gives Debbie and the other fair board members great pride to see it all come together.
“There is never a time to breathe with the fair,” Debbie shares. “But it is always great to see the fair come in August, and you hate to see it go. That’s what you worked for all year long and to see it come together is amazing.”
The 2022 Greene County Fair runs August 7 – 13 at the Greene County Fairgrounds located off E. Roy Furman Highway in Waynesburg.