Why Should Delaware Care?
The Delaware State Fair draws hundreds of thousands of attendees to the Harrington fairgrounds during its 10-day run each summer. While the festivities merely represent fried food and amusement rides to some attendees, the fair also showcases the state’s culture, and its next generation of farmers.
A Friday at the Delaware State Fair brings kids’ last-minute preparations of their animals for agriculture showcases, professional divers thrusting themselves into the water from a platform the height of an Olympic swimming pool and so much more.
Beyond the wacky performers and showcase of Delaware’s farming industry, on a simpler level the fair represents a chance for many people to gather for some good old summer fun: concerts, carnival rides, and, of course, scrapple sandwiches.
Fairgoers and exhibitioners alike describe the 10-day annual event as something to look forward to every summer, and an opportunity for Delawareans from all corners of the state to come together on the Harrington fairgrounds.
High divers: Clown tricks and serious dives
A group of athletes with a penchant for flipping through the air and entertaining with goofy clown-like moves are taking center stage at the fair with a popular diving performance this year.
The three divers, Californian David Macomber, Nevadan Eddie Kollar, and Portugal native Manny Mendez are putting on their 15-minute show four times a day throughout the week.
The men, who are part of the touring company “The All American High Dive Show,” that traverses the globe each summer putting on shows, do a series of mind-boggling flips and twists off of increasingly taller platforms. Still, they say their favorite part of the show is the “dillies” – or the whimsical clown acts for kids.
“I love entertaining the kids,” said Mendez, who is a former Portuguese national diving champion. “We feel the energy from them.”
During the show, the divers don cheetah print outfits and bucket hats to bounce up and down in the diving boards and push one another into the water, often leading the kids in the audience erupting in laughter and applause.
After the playful dives, however, tension in the show ratchets up when Mendez climbs to the very top of the pole that holds the pool setup together to do a dive from a height of 80 feet.
The crowd goes silent for over a minute as Mendez composes himself for the dive, and suspense builds over whether he’ll be able to complete it, before he plunges into the portable pool.
Viewers at the last show of the evening get extra entertainment, as Mendez lights himself on fire on the top platform, completing the flips and twists while ablaze, wearing multiple layers of clothes to protect his skin from the heat. Sometimes, Mendez said, if he hesitates on the platform too long, he gets burned while flipping in the air.
Mendez said he never practices the show-stopping trick anymore because he’s been diving for so many decades – and touring with the high dive show for 40 years – so it’s muscle memory at this point.
Still, his heart rate spikes each time before he launches off the platform.
“It’s always scary. That’s what keeps me safe,” Mendez said.
The All American High Dive Show is doing performances throughout the fair week at 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
4-H kids: Pig and cow shows
Fair week is filled with Delaware kids who have worked for months, or even years, to get their farm animals in top shape for the livestock judging contests and auctions.
Brodie Day, 11, is a Clayton-area 4-H participant, who brought two pigs to show at this summer’s fair.
Day said he has been taking care of pigs at his family friend’s farm, Bodine Farms, in nearby Hartly, for a couple of years. But this is the first season he got more serious about the pigs’ nutrition, in an effort to make them more appealing to the judges and auction bidders, he said.
He spent the past six months feeding his male pig, Teddy, protein to “show off his muscles more,” while the female pig, Baby Back, got more fat, because the judges look for a bigger stomach in the female pig category, Day explained.
He named Teddy because he “acts like a teddy bear,” whereas Baby Back is “sassy.”
His strategy for competition day? – taking the lessons he’s learned from showing pigs the past two years to try to keep his animals calm, and display to the judges their impressive muscles.
“You have to be serious and then you gotta give the judge all the good angles,” Day said, earnestly.
Pigs take roughly 6 months to raise, so some parents have their kids begin in the livestock space with a pig to learn about how to raise the animal with a shorter time commitment. Raising a cow from birth to market weight, however, usually takes 18 to 24 months.
But 9-year-old Rylynn Fields is ambitious. Fields told Spotlight Delaware this is her third year showing a cow at the state fair.
She takes care of her cow, Clove, at a Viola-area farm.
She said her typical responsibilities involve feeding the cow, making sure she has enough water, and walking her so that she doesn’t “get too excited and go crazy.” But in the lead up to the livestock show, Fields has also been trying to “make her look fancy.” by clipping her hair and cleaning her hooves.
Fields said she is grateful to have a cow like Clove, because she has special skills some other cows might not have, like more flexibility in her neck.
“The amazing part about her is that she can tilt her head up and that’s what some cows can barely do,” she said. “I’m kind of lucky. I have a cow that can put her head up.”
Her strategy for show day is to get Clove’s energy out before the competition, so that she stays calm, and places her hooves in the positions the judges like, Fields said.
“She’s sweet. I walk her,” she added. “But she goes crazy a little bit.”
Livestock showmanship competitions and auctions are taking place throughout the fair week in Quillen Arena and the Kent Building.
An array of art
Troves of paintings, flower arrangements, quilts, and childrens’ artwork are on display in the Delmarva Building, where they’ve already been judged and some awarded ribbons.
Gregory Kompes, of Selbyville, is a relatively new quilter who entered a couple of quilts in the fair competition, and won a ribbon for one of his entries.
He also volunteered in the arts tent at the fair, showing exhibitors where their pieces are on display, and convincing visitors simply seeking an air-conditioned respite of the diversity of art entries.
Kompes had a unique trajectory to starting quilting – he first took an interest in the art as a PhD student four decades ago, because he heard advice that doctoral students should find a hobby that isn’t their thesis project.
At the time, however, Kompes found the craft too frustrating because he couldn’t cut or sew a straight line. Years later, when he moved to Delaware, Kompes discovered a quilters’ guild as a means of meeting new people in the area, and learned that there are now new tools like rotary cutters and acrylic rulers to make the art form more enjoyable.
“I dropped out of the doctorate program, but I’m still quilting,” Kompes said with a laugh.
He said he’s found quilting to be an entry into Delaware culture, and the fair art exhibits an exciting representation of Delaware’s arts community.
The art exhibitions are on display in the Delmarva Building, open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reporter Olivia Marble contributed to this story.
