Rockford ready for community fair

There’s a little building in Rockford that houses the entire town’s memories.

Inside is a turn-of-the-century quilt with the names of the local Martha Washington Needlework Club sewn into patches. A cheese-cutter from the family-owned Hurd Mercantile. A collection of class photos from the old Rockford School.

“The same people will come look at the same pictures again every year,” said Esther Hemken, who along with Evelyn Fricke was preparing the small, volunteer museum for the onslaught of locals and out-of-towners visiting this weekend for the Southeast Spokane County Community Fair. Both women pointed at faces in aged photos from the 1920s and said, “There’s the kid I ended up marrying.”

The museum isn’t open very much. In the summer visitors can see it by appointment. In the winter, exhibits are moved out and the building is boarded shut. But for a few days this weekend, the entire town – museum and all – will be opening its doors for the fair.

“It’s just your basic, all-American small-town celebration,” said volunteer Gail Burton.

Basic is the key word. There is no gate fee, exhibits are free to view, and only the rides and food cost money. The fair is not the product of skillful marketing or profit-seeking. It’s simply a chance for a community to get together and enjoy each others’ company.

“Pretty much our format doesn’t change a lot,” Burton said. “We have a tried-and-true way.”

The format includes exhibitor entries in categories like Threshed Grains, Sponge Cake and Handspinning. School kids enter their livestock projects. Local restaurants dress up their serving staff in the fair’s theme – this year’s is “Roundup in Rockford.”

Of particular note for many is the row of food huts, each sponsored by a different community nonprofit, and each with its own special item. The Methodist Church ladies sell pies and cakes. The grange sells hot dogs. Catholics make ham sandwiches.

Of course, the fair isn’t limited to Rockford residents. Hemken said many people from the Spokane area come to the fair to get a taste of the “way it used to be.”

“Kids can still run around without parents,” she said.

Though the pair of women cleaning the museum were busy with work Wednesday, they knew the coming weekend would be a long-awaited chance to reconnect with friends and family they haven’t seen since the last Rockford fair.

“You reminisce about the past and visit with people you haven’t seen for a while,” Hemken said. “You just know they’re going to be here.”