Rich Pearson watches the passing midway crowd at the fair.

Rich Pearson of Langley looked like the lonely Maytag Repairman of TV commercial fame as he sat in his camp chair under an awning at the fair on a drizzly Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve had a couple people stop by,” he said. “I think the rain is holding them back. They’re probably running into the buildings.”
Pearson was tending a display of propane and wood stoves and portable generators set up by Ace Hardware in Freeland.
“Last year, we had one stove fired up,” he said. “This year we didn’t bring propane with us.”
He said that even though business appeared to be slow, the fair display never fails to generate some interest in the equipment, perhaps as much as a year later.
Pearson said that as an extra incentive this year, there’s a federal tax credit on the purchase of a new wood stove.
“This time of year, a lot of people give consideration to an upgrade in their heating systems,” he said as he settled back in his chair to watch the midway traffic passing by.