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County fair takes a local focus

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BY YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: November 11, 2009

SYDNEY - The Hillsborough County Fair offered much more than just a hip-hop-blaring midway.

The fair, a more down-home version of the Florida State Fair, now located in Sydney off State Road 60, focused on community, with numerous animal competitions for youngsters, plant sales, frog-jumping and pig paddling.

Clair Schell, of Riverview, who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, said he likes the local fair because he is able to expose his children to some of the highlights of his childhood.

"We didn't have the time or the money to show our animals," Schell said, but coming to the Hillsborough County Fair brings back a flood of good memories.
Hank Parker and his family drove all the way from Dade City for opening day at the fair. "It's all a strategy," coming to the fair on a Wednesday night, he said, milling among a sparse crowd. The family paused to let 4-year-old Ian Parker get a pony ride. "We don't go anywhere on weekends."

The fair, first organized in 1993, is a volunteer-driven, family tradition that drew more than 25,000 people from all across the region last year and was expected to at least make that number this year, despite the lagging economy.

The event relocated to Sydney last year, after setting up for years in Tampa. Hillsborough County provided the land for the fair and money from the Phosphate Recovery Trust Fund paid for much of the clearing and other work required to prepare the former phosphate mine.

The five-day fair, which included a chili cook-off, plant auction, beauty pageant and more, wrapped up on Sunday.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 627-4763.

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