DAMASCUS

COMMUNITY

FAIR,

PART II

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

Before I go on to Sunday, the new Safeway in Damascus had its grand opening last weekend. Unfortunately, Safeway failed to advertise the big Opening Day last Thursday. As a result, I missed it. But on Saturday, the Grand Opening weekend was underway. The old Safeway store, across from the new one in the Damascus Centre, has been stripped of all signage. It's a shame to see a classic grocery store design facing demolition. I took some photos of the old and new stores. And a video showing how close the old store is to the new store.

The new Safeway has a Starbucks, naturally; Bergmann's Cleaners; and a Signature Cafe with outdoor dining. There isn't a grocery store with all of that in Bethesda, that's for sure.

They were giving away samples of Rancher's Reserve steak in the parking lot out front. And the building was decorated for the Grand Opening.

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As you can tell from the photo in yesterday's entry, the weather on Sunday was fantastic. It was quite a change from Saturday. There was Blackjack again, stirring up a cloud of gravel dust as I parked at the American Legion. While I couldn't get that shot of Blackjack tearing around below the water tower, I was able to finally get two photos of the water tower from the perspective of the Damascus VFD fairgrounds.

A Case tractor was pulling free hayrides. Speaking of tractors, I finally was able to get pictures of the Gladhill Bros. display.

Gladhill Bros. has been selling tractors for over 70 years in Damascus. 70 years! They are a John Deere dealership with a second location in Frederick. They will also service your tractor, as well.

At the Fair, Gladhill Bros. had several lawn tractors, plus a front-loading full size John Deere. I want a Gator T/S. I'll have to settle for the photos I took of it for now. The other smaller John Deere I want is the ATV they sell. In Gladhill Bros.' massive toy display, they had a tiny scale toy of the ATV you could buy.

The Gladhill family is one of the most important in town, and Gladhill Bros. is a major sponsor of the fair. They helped put on a pedal tractor pull outside the VFD Activities Building, for example.

There was a dog show, and I have some video of that. And a special program for grandparents, as Sunday was... Grandparents' Day.

What I had to check out was the lawn tractor pull across the street, though.

Go watch the video of a small lawn tractor hauling a John Deere on the Robert Dyer Channel at http://www.robertdyer.net/, and you will have a front row seat yourself.

A country music band was playing on a stage adjacent to the Activities Building. There was a fashion show inside the building. You could also buy food inside, or from a walk-up window outside. There were hamburgers, pizza, french fries, and fried chicken, and everything smelled great.

I also made a new friend, Jack. Jack is a donkey or burro or something like that. He has a sign on his fence that says, "I BITE. MY NAME IS JACK, AND SERIOUSLY, I DO BITE." Jack was chewing whatever he had there to eat. He appears quite calm, perhaps in a Harry Callahan kind of way.

I can really only try to give you the highlights here, as it would be impossible to describe the thousands of exhibits and entries in the fair. I'm looking forward to going again next year.