Ella Rose and the summer people go to the fair (24 photos)

Ella Rose Pomaranski was there. So was a bunch of dogs.

It was Ella-Rose's very first visit to Jocelyn Recreation's Harvest Festival Antique Machinery and Vehicle Plus Childrens Fall Fair.

Most people prefer to just call it the Jocelyn Township Harvest Fair.

The newest attraction at the 2008 fair was a dog agility demonstration.

Eight-month-old Ella Rose Pomanski brought along her mom Kirstie as well as her grandparents Carol and Lee Ranta.

"We've been coming up summers for more than three generations now," said mom Kirstie Pomaranski. "Our family has a cottage on Finn's Bay Road."

The family hails from somewhere down in Washington State and are self-confirmed "St. Joe Island summer people."

While Ella Rose apparently preferred the taste of her lovely pink canvas bucket hat, others at the harvest fair preferred to dig in to one (or more) of about six different kinds of homemade pie.

Technically, it would have to be called Jocelyn Township Community Centre-made pie though, since that's where all the pies were made, by a team of 30 local ladies.

"They come in and get started at about 9 a.m. on Fridays before the fair," said organizer Ruth Stevens. "They bake over 120 pies and by the end of the day they are usually all gone."

That's one piece at a time all gone.

In additional to the famous pies, fair-goers also enjoy sloppy joes, hot dogs and fresh St. Joseph Island corn on the cob.

Several corn and pie-eating folks also brought along their lawn chairs to set up along the parade route and enjoy their victuals along with a little antique machinery parade.

Kids of all ages were delighted with the farm animals to view and pet, including alpacas, miniature donkeys and goats with kids of the four-legged variety.

They also enjoyed rides in converted syrup barrels on the Nip N Tuck Railroad, games and stories.

The Jocelyn Recreation Harvest Festival Antique Machinery and Vehicle Plus Children's Fall Fair has been a seasonal mainstay anticipated yearly by many since 1986.

Alice Ward, who has operated the House of History since it opened, also in 1986, said that the fair was originally held to celebrate Jocelyn Township's centennial.

"It caught on," Alice said, grinning as she gestured across the filled picnic tables and parking areas.