The Pennsylvania Farm Show is back in a big way.
On Saturday’s opening day, visitors flocked to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg for milkshakes, sheep judging and high school rodeo. By mid-morning, the facility’s main parking lot was full and by the afternoon a few of the auxiliary lots had closed, a barometer of the brisk attendance.
Inside, it was crowded as visitors navigated hallways and choke points to various attractions.
“We’re back in full force,” said Russell Redding, Secretary of Agriculture. “It has all the dynamics of the 2020 show.”
Redding said he could gauge the crowd size by the number of students and families watching the animal judging in the arenas.
From what public safety officials are observing, attendance appears to be back to pre-pandemic times, noted Shannon Powers, spokeswoman for the Pa. Department of Agriculture
It was a striking contrast to the past two years. The Farm Show was held virtually in 2021, and while last year’s show was in person, attendance was down due to the COVID pandemic. This year’s Farm Show runs for eight days through Jan. 14 with the theme “Rooted in Progress.”
On Saturday morning, twin sisters Carla and Carlette Queeley, of Harrisburg, stepped into the complex’s Main Hall with a plan.
“We come every year. We come for the exercise and to walk around and look at the exhibits,” Carlette Queeley said. “You’ll never know what you’ll see.”
The two said they like to see the butter sculpture and animals and find their favorite vendor selling decorative wooden roses. They typically end their tour with an obligatory stop at the food court.
While the Farm Show is partly tradition with standbys such as animal judging, apple pie judging and cooking demonstrations, new exhibits always add to the mix. This year, baby goat snuggling by Steinmetz Family Farm in the New Holland Large Arena, appears to be the hot attraction. It costs $5.
Heidi Shadle, of Chambersburg, stood in line with her husband, Josh, and two sons, waiting to pet the goats. The couple have attended the Farm Show for 25 years, but skipped the past two years.
“It’s a yearly tradition for us,” Heidi Shadle said.
The family’s favorite attractions include the high school rodeo, baby animals and foods including deep-fried vegetables. This year, Heidi Shadle said they packed lunches in lieu of buying food court foods, noting the higher food prices including $6 milkshakes and $3 canned sodas.
Some vendors such as Ed Myers of Gettysburg, who runs The Silver Fox selling an array of Western items such as belt buckles, signs and lighters, said he thought the number of visitors was down, nothing people aren’t as eager to spend money due to rising costs for gas, home heating and food.
“As of now, it was better last year,” he said, mid-morning Saturday. “They were cooped up (due to the pandemic) and they wanted to get out.”
Another longtime Farm Show attendee, Skip Bowen, owner of Maple Crest Farm in York Haven, said it’s too early to judge how attendance will play out. He’s has participated in the Farm Show in one capacity or another for the past 50 years, and displays goats in the Main Hall’s lobby.
The Farm Show is Back
