Drummer ran off to join the circus

When Alex Hilton decided to run off and join the Royal Hanneford Circus (at the York Fair this week), it wasn't the family scene you might expect with wringing of hands, crying, and wailing in fear of a bleak and uncertain future.  Just the opposite.  "Can we help you pack?"  An entertainment family, they understood that this is just another way to make a living.

Hilton, born near Altoona, has been playing drums since he was two years old, and 20 years later, he's now the show's percussionist, having worked up from a stage hand.

He's seen the show hundreds of times, hit more rimshots and cowbell accents he can imagine, but if you watch Hilton during the performances, he's still smiling, laughing with the trampoline comedy bit, and shaking his head in amazement at the balancing acts.

It's a heck of a show at Memorial Hall. Balancing acts that make 'America's Got Talent' look puny and amateurish, contortionists that make you hurt just watching them, high wire acts, and of course, the beautiful and glamorous costumes for the trapeze artistry of Annngelllllllla! 

It's still remarkable that Ringmaster Billy Martin can do his job with as much freshness today as he did years ago. What a great voice.

Bury's is a York Fair food favorite

 The York Dispatch is in the middle of a contest that I can get my teeth into. (Sorry).

Vote for your favorite York Fair food here. You'll see a list, including Johnny Eagle hamburgers (or Bury's). Now, there's plenty of good stuff, but between Johnny Eagle, the York City firefighters cheese steaks and Tubby Tommy's, it would be a tough choice.

The Fried Food capital of the world, the Texas State Fair, announced its food winners recently. You can choose between Deep Fried Jambalaya or Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll. I always favor the Texas Fair's armadillo eggs. This is the place that sells turkey legs as big as a ham.

Bury's has been at the fair for more than 70 years, and in the postcard at left, it says it sold more than six TONS of burgers in 1940. Impressive, eh?

The family still works the stand, and will bring out the World War II price list at the first hint.  Burgers were 13 cents apiece, milk or coffee was a nickel.

If you've not had a Bury's burger, be aware you'll need a few napkins. The burgers swim in a red sauce that is guaranteed to drip on your shirt, or at least down your chin.

And it's worth every drip.

York Fair act headed to international competiton

Contortion in a Cube is what the Seyranyan Sisters call their act, but I call it incredible.

Take two women, both are about 5'3" and 120 pounds, and stuff them into a cube about two feet square.

Once finished at the York Fair, the sisters will take their act to Monte Carlo, where they will perform in the International Circus Competition.

Standing room at fair's Birthing Center

 The York Fair's Animal Birthing Center was a busy  place on Sunday.

A few hundred people jammed the fences around the birthing center to see first the sheep giving birth to two lambs, and then some came back a few hours later to see a holstein cow deliver a baby bull. In between, a rabbit delivered a handful of little ones, but it wasn't nearly as exciting, or noticed.

While the births were interesting from my strictly city-boy point of view, the faces in the crowd were even more intriguing. The kids seemed generally unexcited, the men bored and the women were more expressive.

A few hundred people jammed the fences around the birthing center to see first the sheep giving birth to two lambs, and then some came back a few hours later to see a holstein cow deliver a baby bull. In between, a rabbit delivered a handful of little ones, but it wasn't nearly as exciting, or noticed.

While the births were interesting from my strictly city-boy point of view, the faces in the crowd were even more intriguing. The kids seemed generally unexcited, the men bored and the women were more expressive.

The cow, from Walk-Le Holsteins in Thomasville, also delivered a calf during last year's fair.

In the next few days, more sheep, calves and pigs are expected.

Storm dampens York Fair

It's killing me to post a storm damage photo about the York Fair, since the fair is one of the highlights of my year--and yours too, probably. But not to worry.

The storm hit the fair quick as a lightning bolt, but fortunately without all the big time damage. The 60-mile per hour winds twisted a few signs, made some of the smaller tents into kites and forced a few venders to slog through ankle deep water.

But, with York Countian's usual tenacity, the water and twisted tent poles didn't keep the fair turned off for long.

The funnel cakes at Shorty's were being fried up again as the tent next door was still laying flat on the ground. The baked potatoes never got cold and the corn dogs, well, corn dogs are as delicious cold as they are warm anyway.

Let the games begin-- again.