FAIR STORY: Jerry Kleisath tells us an interesting story about
the McKean County Fair, and his father’s role in bringing it back
after World War II.

“In the early ’50s my father Alfred Kleisath worked hard to
revive it after WWII. He went to all the granges in the county as
well as the Pomona grange to enlist support for the fair. This was
done over a period of years.

“He was the driving force in getting it started again.

“Rumor had it that the grandstand was condemned, but inspections
showed it to be sound.

“John Pytcher of Rew was president, and Alfred was vice
president.

“I had spent many days working in getting the buildings back in
shape and we re-roofed all the livestock barns near Route 46. Oren
Freer donated his time to drill a well for water.”

MILD WINTER?: It’s only mid-August but we’re already on the
prowl for wooly bear caterpillars for their famed prognosticating
ability.

And, judging by what we’ve seen so far, we may be in luck.

Carol Parrett of 429 High St. found an all-brown wooly bear
caterpillar on her back porch last Friday.

And that “all brown” is important because it’s an indication of
a mild winter from start to finish – if you believe that sort of
thing.

We will make an attempt to explain how to prognosticate the
coming winter by eyeballing one of these creepy crawlies:

Most of the wooly bears have black coloration on their “head”
and “tail” (or should we say, “front” and “rear”?).

In any case, the size and location of the black portions
indicate the harsh portions of winter. Thus, if it’s on the front,
then the early part of the winter will be bad; if it’s at the rear,
the last part of winter will be bad. And if it’s solid black, the
entire winter will be brutal.

As for the mild parts of winter, they are indicated by the
amount and placement of brown on the body.

And with this caterpillar being brown from head to toe, that’s
an indication of mild weather from start to finish.