ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Before the crowds arrive, the Great Allentown Fairgrounds are filled with a different kind of sound.<\/p>\n
Plastic snapping into place. Hay being moved. Vendors setting up. Animals getting settled. Concession stands waiting to open.<\/p>\n
For Great Allentown Fair veteran Allison Blackadar, the work is familiar, but still tiring.<\/p>\n
Asked to describe the setup process in one word, Blackadar answered simply.<\/p>\n
\u201cTiring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Blackadar, of Riegelsville-based LMA Livestock, was among dozens of farmers, vendors and ride operators preparing for the 174th Great Allentown Fair.<\/p>\n
For George Pitsilos, owner of Take a Taco, the process has become routine. This year marks his 47th fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago, it was stressful. Now, it\u2019s just common,\u201d Pitsilos said. \u201cThe process is easy. Get the equipment delivered here. Set it all up. We\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
During setup, the fairgrounds look different from the way visitors will see them later in the week. A ride through the grounds is still foot-traffic free. Roadblocks are concession stands waiting to happen. Hay is part of the scenery.<\/p>\n
And the sounds of preparation are everywhere.<\/p>\n
Chrissy Flexer, director of concessions, said there will be 80 concession locations across the fairgrounds this year, including eight first-time vendors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think concessions is very important to the fair, because if I go to the fair, I go to the fair to eat food,\u201d Flexer said.<\/p>\n
She said nearly every part of the East Coast will be represented through food vendors.<\/p>\n
For Jeff and Dylan Zandarski, being at the fair is part of a father-son tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got demolition derby tickets,\u201d Jeff Zandarski said.<\/p>\n
Asked what this time of year means to him, Zandarski said the fair signals the end of summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means it\u2019s the end of summer soon,\u201d he said. \u201cLabor Day\u2019s the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 174th Great Allentown Fair begins Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Before the crowds arrive, the Great Allentown Fairgrounds are filled with a different kind of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[119,153,155,154,20325,115807,115808,115806,1500,95186,5431,6673],"class_list":["post-276044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-allentown","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-concessions","tag-demolition-derby","tag-end-of-summer","tag-event-setup","tag-great-allentown-fair","tag-livestock","tag-tradition","tag-vendors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}