County fair continues
By JEN MATSICK/jmatsick@reviewonline.comArticle Photos
NEW MANCHESTER - Crafts and performances marked the second day of the Hancock County Oldtime Fair, taking place at Tomlinson Run State Park.
Craft vendors at the fair include Kathy and Randall Railing's paintings and honey products from Buena Vista Honey Farms.
The Railings have several paintings for sale, including scenes from different seasons around Tomlinson Run State Park.
Randall Railing stated that this is the second year the paintings have been for sale at the fair.
A larger project completed by the couple is a set of 12 butterfly and flower paintings, which they hope to have turned into a calendar.
"We spent a lot of time looking at the Audubon books to make sure the flowers (we painted) were from the same regions as the butterflies," Railing said.
The Railings hope to open a studio for painting lessons in the future. Currently, art instruction classes are run in New Cumberland.
Buena Vista Honey Farms, run by Joe and Suzan Kovaleski of Steubenville, also has a booth at the fair.
The Kovaleskis use their bees, located in both Brooke and Jefferson Counties, to create pure beeswax candles as well as honey.
The Kovaleskis have been beekeepers for over 16 years.
"It started as a project for my younger son to get the Boy Scouts Beekeeping Merit Badge," Kovaleski said.
Buena Vista Honey Farms offers four types of honey, ranging from the light honey of the early spring to the darker, molasses-like honey that bees create in the late fall.
The fair will continue today until the tractor parade to close out the events at 5 p.m.
Today, performers at the fair include magician Jim Tate, the 3:16 band, the W.Va. 4-H Dance Ambassadors, the Tri-State Harmonizers, Lonesome Heart, and country group Mary, Joe and Harry.
Joe and Mary Haynes and Harry Doak, all of New Cumberland, will perform at 2 p.m. today.
The group has been performing for many years at events such as Hancock House's New Year's Eve celebration and a square dance at the Hancock County Senior Wellness Center.
"We just keep playing, trying to make people happy," Mary Haynes said.
The group performs many country favorites, but Haynes stated that Patsy Cline songs are her own personal favorite.
The next performance for Mary, Joe and Harry will be at New Cumberland's Fall River Fest, on Sept. 26 and 27.
Another featured event is the kiss the donkey contest, which will also take place at 2 p.m. today.
"This is going to be one of the biggest highlights of the fair," Hancock Count Fair Board Vice President Lisa Virden said.
Virden stated that as of Saturday afternoon, competition between County Commissioner Mike Swartzmiller, Chester Police Chief Ken Thorn, and New Cumberland Police Chief Lester Skinner was "neck and neck."
The contender that raises the most money, collected in cans at the fair's hospitality tent, will kiss the donkey today.








