The Canfield Fair opens in one week and every vendor knows it’s a hot ticket for food sales.
by: Alexis Walters
Thursday was the day for vendors to pick up their paperwork and the line was long. Some lined up an hour ahead of time. There are 500 vendors this year.
Lemonade, funnel cakes, and stromboli are just a few of the offerings along with businesses from around the area. You can find it all at the Canfield Fair.
“I would say 90 percent have been here 10, 20, 30, even 50 years.
Most of our attendees know where their favorite concessionaire is,” said
Fair Director George Roman.
Some vendors, like DiRusso’s Sausage, have been coming for 53 years.
“My uncle started a concession business in the 60s – Auggie DiRusso
and Canfield was one of the first spots he worked,” said Robert DiRusso.
Vendors do have to pay a fee to set up at the fair, but the business they will do during that one week keeps them coming back.
“Even if we get one job it pays for the event so it is definitely worth it.
It’s not just the sales during the week; it’s the marketing that lasts year round.
“I mean the Canfield Fair itself is pretty much our biggest marketing event of the year,” DiRusso said.
Roman said getting ready for the fair is like building a city of 600,000 people in six days and there are some challenges, but it all comes out fine in the end.
“You have your issues but where are you going to go to meet this many people in this short period of time,” Roman said.
The fair begins Wednesday, August 29 and runs through Labor Day (Sept. 3). Ticket information and show dates and times can be found at canfieldfair.com.