This was the 21st year Doug Puzo, creator of the “Harford Fair Kiddy Tractor Pull” pulling tractors and weight sled brought the event to the Fair. Susquehanna County Dairy Princess Callie Curley and Dairy Ambassadors Mercedes Spickerman and Madeline Mitchell assisted at the event along with event announcer John Puzo.
Over 100 enthusiastic children pulled as parents and other spectators cheered them on. Children from all across Susquehanna County took part in the pull as well as children from neighboring counties.
Six year old Drew Perkins from Franklin Hill Road, Hallstead peddling to a fourth place finish
The Dairy Princess handed each of the kids a coupon for a free glass of milk compliments of Susquehanna County Farm Bureau. The Harford Fair Queen Rachael Grosvenor and alternate Queen Erica Reeves were also present helping with presentation of ribbons and trophies. Cooper VanCott Nursery & Landscaping sponsored the ribbons and trophies as well as providing candy for the participants.
In the junior division the four year old first place winners were Addison Kilmer and Jayden Adams; five year old winners were Kaelynn Brant and Jarret Pratt; six year old winners were Kayla Kass and Bronson Kilmer; Kiara Mooney and Jack Kowalewski were winners in the seven year old division. In the senior division the eight year old first place winners were Kendra Brant and Bradley Cottrell; nine year old winners were Erin Voda and Blaise Napierkowski; 10 year old winners were Tosha Shay and William Bowen.
Six year old Kayla Kasa from Nicholson and seven year old Jack Kowalewski from Clifford received the Junior Champion awards. The Senior Champion awards went to ten year old Tosha Shay from Thompson and ten year old William Bowen from Honesdale.
The Harford Fair is a great fair for everyone and the Kiddy Tractor Pull is an excellent event for young children to take part in while at the Fair.
The cheers and applause heard from the spectators indicated this event was once again well received. Look for the event to continue at the Harford Fair next year.
Ellie Heinrichs and her mini Dachshund entered the ring each dressed as bubble bees and won judges favorite in the other animal division.
The winners in the cow division were judge’s favorite Andrew Kowalewski and his Jersey calf dressed as the hunter and the whitetail deer. The Pavelski family children and their calf received the most original award dressed as angry birds tied with Garrett Peters also receiving the most original cow division award. Maggie Kowalewski and her calf were sporting huge “got milk” cowboy hats and received the animal/exhibitor look-a-like award.
Piglet, Dahlia Ofalt, Winnie the Pooh, Jacob Robinson and their pony Shorty dressed as Eeyore stole the show receiving the judge’s favorite in the horse division and overall Best of Show. Other winners in the horse division were Dana Nunemacher and Rachel Klein tying for the most original award. Gabbie Lupole and her horse received animal exhibitor look-a-like recognition.
Judges favorite in the sheep and goat division, Emma Loch and friends and Emma’s goat were all dressed for a slumber party. Haley Hemmerly and her lamb Henry received the most original award and Zeb Swartly and his goat received the animal exhibitor look-a-like award.
The contest was judged by the Susquehanna County Dairy Princess Callie Curley and members of her court Samantha Warner, Mariah Tompkins and Mercedes Spickerman.
Bumblebees Ellie Heinrichs and Dixie receive the Judges Favorite award
Pictured Receiving a Judges Favorite award, five year old Andrew Kowalewski dressed as the great deer hunter with his jersey calf dressed as a whitetail buck.
Pictured are The contest judges (back row) Dairy Ambassador Mariah Tompkins, Dairy Princess Callie Curley and Dairy Ambassador Mercedes Spickerman pose with the winners of the Best of Show Award, Dahlia Ofalt and Jacob Robinson and their pony Shorty all dressed as Winnie the Pooh characters.
The Little Red Schoolhouse at the Harford Fair had over 1200 pieces of children’s work displayed and judged once again this year. An oil pastel owl was selected as the Best of Show in grades K-6 to receive the Mary H. Karhnak Award. A detailed pen and ink drawing of the Beatles received the Best of Show award for grades 7-12. The winners of the awards respectively are Bridget Bencock a third grade student at Lathrop Street Elementary and John Valentine a senior at Mountain View High School.
Pictured is Bridget Bencock, a third grade student at Lathrop Street School, proudly showing off her oil pastel owl. To the right, John Valentine, a recent graduate from Mountain View High School, is holding his detailed pen and ink drawing of the Beatles. Their entries were selected as the Best of Show Awards in the Little Red Schoolhouse at this year’s Harford Fair. Each is also holding his engraved clock which they received for their prize-winning art work.
During an interview, Bridget explained the step by step process used in the creation of her art work which was a project done at school. She said, “I didn’t think I’d get any award. The art teacher has entered items in the fair before but never any of mine.” To say the least, she was so pleased with the award as well as her four first place winners and two second place winners in the schoolhouse. In school she loves both math and reading. But Bridget’s achievements go far beyond school. An active member of the Franklin Hill Community 4-H Club, she received two first place awards as well as a junior reserved grand champion award at the fair. She was recognized on the stage of the Harford Fair at the opening ceremonies on Sunday evening for completing five community service projects. She was awarded a beautiful pink and white bicycle for her community service work. She worked setting up and cleaning up at a benefit carnival and sold cotton candy. She helped her dad cut up and clear trees for an elderly neighbor. She helped pick up trash in the park in New Milford, planted flowers on Public Avenue in Montrose, and helped mop floors in the dining hall at the Girl Scout Camp.
John Valentine, a recent graduate of Mountain View, has been entering projects in the schoolhouse at the fair since elementary school. His art teacher is quoted as saying that, “John is one of his most talented students. He has an eye for detail which shows in his work.” His winning pen and ink piece was done as a class assignment for his girlfriend. In his interview, John said that he always looked at the Best of Show Awards but never thought he would win one. “No way!” he said. John shows an intense sense of pride in his work and noted that last year his Christmas gifts were all pieces of art work he created. He loves it when people encourage him and he feels that his pencil drawings are the best. He has already sold some of his artwork. He will keep art as a hobby as he begins his career in farming.
Bridget and John each received an engraved clock for their winning entries. In addition, their names will be added to each of the perpetual plagues which will hang in the Schoolhouse on the fairgrounds during fair week.
The Mary H. Karhnak Award was established in her memory in 1979 after her tragic death. She was a teacher in the former Hop Bottom School which was one of four elementary schools in the Mountain View School District. Mary was a graduate of Mountain View and attended Marywood University. She had taught 14 years in the district and was also superintendent of the School Department at the Harford Fair at the time of her death. The 1979 Harford Fair premium book was dedicated to her memory.
The Best of Show Award for grades 7-12 was established by Joan O. Peters, a retired English and Latin teacher at the Mountain View High School. She also served as assistant superintendent of the School Department at the Harford Fair for many years.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - There is broad public support among Pennsylvania residents for increased renewable-energy generation, according to a study recently conducted by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
The research found that Pennsylvanians rate hydropower, solar electricity and wind power highest among electricity generation technologies, followed by nuclear power and natural gas. The results indicate that the average Pennsylvania household is willing to pay an extra $55 per year to increase renewable-energy production by an amount equal to 1 percent of Pennsylvania electricity consumption.
The study, "Pennsylvanians' Attitudes Toward Renewable Energy," was conducted by Clare Hinrichs, associate professor of rural sociology, and Richard Ready, professor of agricultural and environmental economics, with assistance from doctoral students John Eshleman and James Yoo. The project was funded by a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
"The dominant message that came across was that there is broad support for increasing the amount of renewable energy production in the state, and there is broad support for the state taking an active role in encouraging that," Ready said. "The majority of Pennsylvanians support strengthening the state's alternative-energy portfolio standard that mandates that a certain amount of electricity comes from renewable sources."
Ready noted that researchers were surprised they did not find a single group of respondents who disagreed.
"We came into it thinking that there might be some people who are politically conservative or less concerned about the environment who would be less supportive, but even the politically conservative respondents supported increasing renewable energy," he said. "There are people who are skeptical of global warming, for example, but even they wanted more renewable electricity and wanted the state to be active in supporting renewable generation.
"So to the extent that the stereotypical right-wing, global-climate-change-denying community exists, they also support more renewable-energy generation. To a certain extent, it surprised me that the support was so broad-based."
To learn more about rural and urban Pennsylvanians' attitudes on renewable energy, their views on the impacts of renewable-energy-generation facilities and their willingness to pay for renewable energy, the researchers conducted initial focus-group interviews, a mail survey and case study focus groups in five rural communities in 2010 and 2011.
The two initial focus-group sessions were conducted in 2010 in Huntingdon and Pittsburgh and provided background information for the mail survey. The surveys were mailed to 1,600 Pennsylvania residents and yielded a 50.4 percent response rate.
The case study focus groups included a community with an established wind-energy operation, a community where a new wind-energy operation had been proposed, a community with an established biomass-energy operation and a community with a proposed biomass-energy operation.
A fifth community, with no existing or known proposed utility-scale renewable-energy operation, was used as a "control" community.
The survey data indicated that Pennsylvania residents prefer some electricity technologies over others. Hydropower, solar electricity, wind power and "improved efficiency" were all highly rated by respondents. Nuclear power and natural gas were rated next highest.
Biomass combustion, conventional coal, and coal with carbon capture and sequestration came next. Waste coal was the lowest-ranked technology.
Among renewable sources for generating electricity, Pennsylvanians have a low regard for burning biomass, Ready said. "When we had them rate the renewable technologies, there really wasn't much difference, they were all equally highly rated -- with the exception of burning biomass," he explained.
"Biomass combustion is a renewable technology, but it was rated as having a less-positive impact then solar, wind and hydro. That was very clear. We found consistently that respondents preferred the technologies that don't involve emissions."
Respondents indicated that the Tier 1 requirements of the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, which require that 8 percent of Pennsylvania electricity come from renewable and other alternative sources by the year 2020, is good policy for the state and supported increasing the requirements above what is required by current law.
The survey results also showed that Pennsylvania residents favor increasing the percentage of electricity generated from renewable sources, even if such an increase will cost them money.
According to the survey results, the average household in Pennsylvania was willing to pay $55 more per year to increase wind and other renewable production (excluding biomass combustion) by an amount equal to 1 percent of total electricity use in the state. Residents indicated they were willing to pay $42 more per year to increase solar generation by the same amount.
The average household was not willing to pay anything to increase electricity production from biomass combustion.
Several common themes emerged from the case study communities, researchers noted. One was the idea of "energy independence," which tended to be the first benefit of renewable energy that participants chose to mention. Another was the participants' natural interest in energy efficiency and conservation as an energy strategy deserving greater individual, household, community and state attention.
Respondents said they also were concerned about the general absence of a sound, long-term, comprehensive energy policy at the state or federal level.
For job impacts, the respondents rated natural gas and conventional coal highest, which suggests that the respondents understood the importance of these two resources for employment in the state, according to Ready.
Based on the these results, the researchers developed several considerations for policymakers:
--Policymakers should consider more nonpolluting technologies when developing policies that will affect the mix of energy sources available to Pennsylvania residents.
--If future modifications of proportional targets in the state's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard are considered, policymakers should consider including more electricity from renewable sources.
--Concern about the job impacts of the state's energy policy and tendencies to see natural gas and coal as the energy technologies having the most positive impact on jobs suggest the need for careful and accurate job and workforce projections associated with both renewable and nonrenewable energy sector development.
HARRISBURG – State grant funds will help repair damage caused by severe flooding last year in Little Meadows Borough, Susquehanna County, Rep. Tina Pickett (R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna) said today.
The $30,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), will be used for the construction of three projects in the borough, consisting of installing 275 feet of riprap on the Apalachin Creek at 780 Maple Ave., 80 feet of stacked rock wall on the same creek at 732 Maple Ave. and 40 feet of riprap on a tributary of the Apalachin Creek at 83 Bolles Road. All of this work is the result of damage caused last September by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.
“Unfortunately, scars still remain from last year’s storms, and I am hopeful this grant money will go a long way to help repair the stream bank and help to prevent flooding in future heavy rain situations,” Pickett said.
This grant is one of a number that have been awarded to local governments across the Northern Tier and in areas affected by the 2011 storms.
