Chief says Country Fair Days were crowded
With the help of good weather, this year’s Harleysville Country Fair Days appears to have been quite successful and may have set new attendance levels, Lower Salford Township Police Chief Thomas Medwid said at the June 5 Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors morning work session.
Proceeds from the fair, held by the Harleysville Jaycees at the Harleysville Community Center, benefit local charities and nonprofit organizations. This year’s fair was May 23 through 26.
The fair had a new layout.
“They squeezed in additional rides and amusements,” Medwid said.
That area was very crowded, he said.
“You couldn’t walk through,” he said.
Lines for rides intersected with lines for other rides, he said.
“There was pushing and shoving,” Medwid said. “You couldn’t see the macadam. You couldn’t see the grass.”
The police department had 10 officers at the fair, similar to previous years, he said.
The Jaycees are considering starting a separate kiddie ride area closer to the Scout cabin and pavilion area, but that would spread out the fair and the police officers patrolling it, he said.
“We’ll have to talk it out and see if it’s feasible,” Medwid said.
If the kiddie rides are moved, the fair may also be planning to put more rides in the area where the moved rides were, rather than spreading those rides out and making more room for people to walk, board Chairman Doug Gifford said.
This year’s new lay-out for the food area and picnic tables was an improvement, Medwid said.
“That’s the only place you could walk around,” he said. “Once you left that area, it was just brutal.”
In a separate matter at the meeting, Public Works Director Lorenzo Cuoci said the new playground equipment in Dan Roth Park has been installed and the playground area is open for use.
“It’s a brand new playset,” Cuoci said.
“We added a more current swing for toddlers and up-to-date swing for 5- through 12-year-olds,” he said, “and we installed all brand new wood carpeting for safety purposes.”
The wood carpeting has now been installed in all the township playgrounds, he said.