CAROL SHETLER/The Luminary Shirley Shaner Brown with her car trunk filled with canned goods, delivered her entries to the Lycoming County Fair grounds earlier this week. Brown's sister, Pauline Nickles, will have 15 items on display in the Grange building.

HUGHESVILLE The hustle and bustle centered around fair time is not confined to the fairgrounds. All around Lycoming County and beyond, exhibitors are scurrying to be ready for opening, the evening of July 14 at 6 p.m.

All year long, items have been in the making. For example, Shirley Brown of Unityville, prepares, plants and harvests from her garden. The bounty is preserved in jars, a canning process common to most households in years past.

“Folks nowadays say they don’t have time for canning which has made a noticeable decrease in exhibits,” Brown said. Like her sister, Pauline Nickles of Moreland Township, Brown also enters baked goods. “I’m entering 15 items including baked goods, mints, several varieties of flowers, and a pair of embroidered pillow cases and a dresser scarf,” Nickles said.

When queried about canned goods, Nickels said, “I don’t want to be in competition with my sister, so I try not to enter anything she does.” Both are hoping for some blue ribbons.

The women’s work will not be complete, as in addition to entering individual categories, the twosome has for decades, volunteered with the Canasurago Grange.

Attendees are encouraged to check out the food items and flowers housed in the Grange building near the Third Street gate at the Lycoming County Fair.