Westmoreland Fair provides educational opportunities for students prior to fall classes

For Madison Davis, the Westmoreland Fair has conflicted with the start of her college classes for the past three years — but it hasn’t stopped her from making the most of her fair experience.

Davis, 20, of Dawson, is a junior majoring in nursing at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, and she said it seems that the first day of classes consistently falls on the first show day at the fair.

Her family brought 14 dairy cows to the Westmoreland Fair last month, and she tried to come to the fair a “couple times” to bring feed and relieve her mom and two brothers from being in the barn 24/7.

“Of course I brought my school stuff so I can work on homework later,” Davis said.

She said she’s had to miss out on “a lot of stuff,” but because she believes “school comes first,” she’s had to inevitably make some sacrifices.

“While I was sitting in classes, mom was texting everything that was going on and sending me pictures,” Davis said of the cow show.

However, Davis said the conflict has impacted her in a “positive way” because she’s learned how to manage her time.

“(The fair is) just something I’m grateful for,” Davis said. “I’ll always make time for it no matter if I’m sitting here doing my homework.”

The week-long Westmoreland Fair in Mt. Pleasant Township each August provides a space for locals to learn more about the agriculture industry in Pennsylvania, and Davis said it’s opened her eyes to how much people don’t know about day-to-day farm life.

“They find it hard to believe,” she said.

Lainey Smith said she’s been coming to the fair since before she turned one, and she’s always showed cows until about three or four years ago, when she started showing dairy goats.

“It’s just always been, I guess, like a tradition to come here,” Smith, 12, of West Newton, said.

Smith goes to Yough School District, and the school’s start date did not conflict with the fair.

“(The school start date has) always been like two days after the fair,” Smith said. “It’s just a nice way to end summer between school starting.”

Smith said her cousin was not so lucky. He goes to Jeannette City School District, which is one of the districts that began classes toward the end of the fair week.

Other districts that began during the fair include: Hempfield Area, Monessen City, Norwin, Penn-Trafford and Belle Vernon Area.

Anthony DeMaro, superintendent of Yough, confirmed that the decision to start school during the last week of August is not “solely” based on the timing of the Westmoreland Fair, even though many Yough students participate.

“It’s just based on the needs of our community,” DeMaro said.

Smith said she’s learned a lot from attending the fair, such as how to show different animals and how agriculture “works and develops.”

She and her family are very involved with it because her grandfather, Craig Lash, is the president of the fair.

Lash, 66, of West Newton, said his family’s “been fortunate” that Yough has stuck with its start date each year.

“Years ago, you never went back to school before Labor Day,” he said. “(The fair) is what’s called your ‘roundup.’ You bring everything you worked hard on all summer to the fair.”

Youths learn to buy an animal, take care of it and feed it, and then participate in the livestock sale, when their market animals are sold.

“You go out and try to get buyers,” Lash said, which teaches them business and management skills.

Lash explained that even though the animals can go to slaughter, the youth can make around $500, which they can use to purchase their next animal. The remaining funds can go to starting a savings account, he said.

“That’s what the learning experience is about.”

It’s “tough on (students) when they have to miss the fair,” Lash said, saying he would’ve attended the event over school and would’ve advocated for his children and grandchildren to do the same had the first day of classes conflicted.

“I would’ve never missed a fair to go to school,” he added.