Fine weather, many Canfield Fair attendees please vendors
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By SEAN BARRON
Correspondent
CANFIELD -- Scott Purcell revels in selling diverse flavors of lemonade to countless fairgoers, but the primary ingredient he also stresses to himself and his employees to provide can't be found in any size of cup.
"My employees must engage. Communication makes (customers) feel special. The more I engage, the more they come back," Purcell, who owns Mogadore-based Ohio's Best Lemonade, said.
Purcell was busy Sunday afternoon in a 15-foot bright-yellow balloon whipping
up his brand of the drink for the 177th Canfield Fair that featured partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-80s with high humidity. The fair will conclude after this evening's grandstand performance from Boyz II Men, a vocal harmony group popular in the 1990s with such hits as "End of the Road," "One Sweet Day" and "I'll Make Love to You."
Purcell and several other vendors reported steady .and increased business Sunday, largely because of the favorable weather conditions and a consistently high daily attendance.
Purcell said that in addition to keeping his prices reasonable and at or slightly below market value, he emphasizes making his customers feel special and valued. To that end, he shared a story about having jokingly told a man who wanted a $3 refill of lemonade a few years ago that Purcell would accept 300 pennies instead of three $1 bills, so last year, the man brought him a bag containing 300 pennies.
"It's good to have that kind of rapport," Purcell added.
Lemonade varieties for which he carefully mixes and stirs ice and flavored sugar water include strawberry, peach, mango, wild berry and one named after legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, which is half each of sweet tea and lemonade. While competing in the U.S. Open golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, Palmer often ordered that combination, Purcell explained.
Also providing a boost to Ohio's Best Lemonade's bottom line is having been mentioned favorably on social media, he continued.
"(Business) is getting better each day as the crowds increase," Cynthia Rawson of Geneva, who is running a stand that sells mainly steampunk merchandise, said Sunday.
Rawson, also known as "Countess Cynthia," explained that steampunk combines a variety of means and machines from the Industrial Age with the human passion, ingenuity and colors of the Victorian Age. The steampunk subgenre was heavily influenced and inspired by 19th century steam-powered machinery that included the steam engine.
As a result, she was selling mechanical animal figurines equipped with wires and gears, along with steampunk-inspired jewelry, owl figures, hats, glasses and dragons that appeal to fans of the fantasy-drama series "Game of Thrones."
Rawson, who said she's built a large and steady customer base during her three years at the Canfield Fair, added that much of what she sells appeals "to the young crowd that loves to dress up."
What another source of appeal for part of the young crowd lacked in steampunk value made up for it with flavor, especially for children and teenagers.
"Business is going well. We love to spread smiles wherever we go," Anna Murphy-Pociask, who drives a wiener mobile depicting the Oscar Mayer brand, said. "We're getting a ton of foot traffic."
The wide, hot dog-shaped vehicle on display at the fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday is one of six such vehicles in the U.S. The one Murphy-Pociask drives makes appearances at numerous festivals, fairs, sporting events and other special gatherings in the northeast portion of the country from about Ohio to Maine, she explained.
In addition, the eye-catching vehicle is the latest iteration of a line of such vehicles that first rolled out in the 1930s.
Many fairgoers seemed content to have their pictures taken next to the orange and yellow vehicle. Others, however, such as siblings Cooper, Maddie and Carter Mraz of Boardman, opted to take it a step further by posing behind cut-outs of a ketchup bottle, mustard bottle and hot dog, respectively, that revealed only their faces.
"We're having a great time," Cooper Mraz said when asked Sunday to sum up his assessment of time spent at the fair.
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