Once and a while I like to do “the story behind the story” type of posting.

Today was a great fun; a visit to the Allentown Fair!

Having been there last year after a nearly 30 year hiatus this was my second year in a row returning to the historic Allentown Fairgrounds. A plot of land in the middle of the sprawling heyday turn of the century industrial boom of the Lehigh Valley and a former WWI ambulance training  grounds; for the last hundred or so years it has hosted what is properly named “The Great Allentown Fair”. I remember going here with my grandparents in the 1980’s and it was a highlight of any kids summer. Always at the end of the summer, the last day of the fair is historically Labor Day.

Today I had the chance to cover two smaller parts of this sprawling agricultural meets inner city event. From ferris wheels, tilt-a-whirls and carnival games you also find live stock… lots of livestock, 4H events and art exhibits.

I covered the Barnyard Olympics and the Pedal Tractor-Pull. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds. Adults and children make animal noises in the olympics portion, the best receiving ribbons for placing in the event. The pedal tractor pull is exactly that. A cast metal pedal operated toy tractor with a weighted sled attached to the rear, add some youth powered legs and we are off! Down a blacktop stretch outside Agricultural Hall the youngsters pedal as hard and as fast as they can to see who can go the furthest.

I quickly found that the kids were very camera shy during the olympics, no one likes a camera in their face especially kids. I decided to go the covert route for the pull. I hooked a GoPro onto the front of each tractor for the pulling event. With a gorilla arm mount and a GoPro Hero3 i was able to capture the funniest reactions of these kids trying to pedal towards the finish line. Here is the video

Read the full story and see my photo gallery here.