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Partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms possible. High 83F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.

To whom it may concern —

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY

The sun seems to hang longer on the horizon in the waning days of summer and there’s just a little more dusty feel to the county as agricultural fair season ramps up once more today. Exit the Dayton Fair of Armstrong County, enter the Indiana County Fair and today’s second card of harness racing on the Mack Park track. What is considered the real opening day? Tomorrow, when the folks at the gates collect admissions? Sunday, when the multidenominational worship service and the crowning of the Indiana County Fair Queen cap the day’s schedule? Monday, when the midway opens and carnival rides swing into action?

Some call Tuesday their personal highlight of fair week, with the High School Band Night show on the track at the grandstand. It’s like hearing 10 football halftime shows in one sitting.

Just ahead of the bands’ performance, the major Evergreen After School Club fundraiser culminates with the Kiss A Pig Contest wrapping up on the grandstand stage: David Janusek, the former Evergreen program director; Pa. Sen. Joe Pittman; Maddy Sabo, of S&T Bank; and Corey Smith, of First Commonwealth Bank have been competing in penny-a-vote style.

Speaking of halftime shows, the musicians make their official debuts Friday with the start of Heritage Conference and WPIAL fall campaigns. Heritage takes a new look again this year with the merger of the United and Blacklick Valley teams as what some have called the “United Valley” Lions and the entrance of the Portage Mustangs from the Cambria County mainline area. The reach of the three-county conference now extends to a 1-hour, 20 minute bus ride of 66.1 miles from Portage to West Shamokin (an Oct. 14 matchup). Thanks, Siri.

Think it’s early for football? The college ranks kick off later, and the NFL season opens in two more weeks. But come Tuesday — with 24 days remaining in summer — the ice skating programs start at White Township Recreation’s S&T Bank Arena on East Pike. Learn To Skate Session 1 begins after school and runs eight weeks. The rec program’s six overlapping beginners’ skating sessions wrap up more than six months later, on April 4. (Didn’t sign up for instruction? Public open skating sessions start Sept. 10, the same day the IUP Crimson Hawks kick off their PSAC West football season.)

Tip o’ the hat to the Rev. Paul Price, pastor of Cornerstone Church, who noted this week that Indiana has something that New York City no longer has. The last of the pay telephones was taken out of service recently in The Big Apple, but one can still drop a quarter in the slot for a good old-fashioned landline conversation from a pay station in Communities at Indian Haven, the county-owned personal care home. Quietly reopened for business for the first time since March 2020 and the pandemic shutdowns: Twisted Jimmy’s tavern on North Seventh Street (minus the original anchor of the hospitality center, Steel City Sammiches), now under new local team ownership. Redesigned as a craft beer outlet, Twisted sports a huge lighted “OINK” sign suspended from the ceiling, a nod to the property’s never-completed conversion to Pig Iron Public House, a name that was prominently displayed on window signs that stood through most of its closure. White Township has approved the building permit for Panera Bread to begin construction of its popular eatery along Oakland Avenue across from the ALDI market in White Township. A wistful but polite call to the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce office today could get someone in under the wire with a reservation for Thursday’s Eggs and Issues legislative breakfast at the Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex. The soft deadline to save a seat was Thursday.

Gasoline prices remained steady in the $4.25 a gallon range this week in the general Indiana area, with the cigarette shop at Fourth and Philadelphia streets still undercutting the big red convenience store across the street by a penny. Sam’s Club in Monroeville has posted 87 octane at $3.55 for members, and a Shell station in Lancaster County has the state’s lowest price at $3.50, according to pennsylvaniagasprices.com … The Sunday Concerts in the Park season wraps up the weekend with the Fatback Blues show by Saltsburg’s Dave Minda and Hot Dog John on the Memorial Park stage. Bring a chair and a cold beverage, the forecast says sunny and 88 for the 5:30 p.m. Sunday show … Please read, but don’t bet: Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Detroit Lions 24 in the preseason finale late Sunday afternoon, followed by Mitch Trubisky getting the nod as the Week 1 starter … Willie, our ex-shoeshine boy, wonders what William Faulkner really meant when he wrote, “Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders,” in his classic 1932 novel, “Light in August” ... not that he remembers first-hand.

This column is compiled by Gazette staff writer Chauncey Ross. Email items including news releases, newsletters, posters, fliers and scribbled notes for submission to cross@indianagazette.net.

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