Ideas and information were flowing between participants at the Chautauqua County History Fair. It is hard to tell who was learning more. Was it the people manning the booths or the people visiting the fair. I do know that I got there early enough to snoop around. With coffee cup in hand I walked around looking at the various exhibits and tell myself that I must come back here later in the day and talk to these people. They must have worked on this display all year. I glanced at the floor layout so I can find my way back here later. Whoops just remembered that I have to get back to our booth and straighten thing up before the gates open.

During the day many people stopped to look at our display, asking where they can find our publications. They seemed surprised at the number of libraries with our reference books. I lost track of how many publication fliers we handed out.

Many friends stopped in to see me. Some I saw just yesterday and others I hadnít seen in years. A couple of friends came to visit together, which to me seemed odd. Like Laurel and Hardy. Like two sides of the tracks. The only commonality was high school home room. One sat in the desk in front of me and the other sat in the desk behind me. We were friends by being alphabetically by last name next to each other since first grade.

Michele Henry (county historian) and her committee put on a good show that allowed the citizens of Chautauqua County to see what a rich history we have. Itís too bad that this kind of event only happens every hundred years.

It took us many hours to sent up the booths and only minutes to clear out. It reminded me of the tv program Mash when they had to bugout.