Plans are underway to hold the second Central PA Hamfest on the second weekend in September on Sunday. That will place our event on Sunday September 13th 2026.
2025 was our inaugural year. We learned a lot. Things we could do better and things we won’t be doing again. With the 2026 hamfest we are now in a position to make use of that knowledge to grow our event as both a resource for the amateur radio community and hopefully a fundraiser for the CCARC.
In 2025 we made use of the Agricultural Building and adjacent parking lot at the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. This facility was ideal in may ways, but also had some drawbacks. After discussions with the fair staff, we’ve been informed that a different building on the fairgrounds, the Community Building, is available at a considerably reduced rental cost. The Community Building is older and a bit smaller, but appears to contain all the facilities we need and offers an isolated parking area.
The main room inside the building was described as about the size of ½ a basketball court. Last year we had a number of empty tables set up in an effort to fill the space. If we eliminate the empty tables, everything we did in 2025 should fit within this space. There is also an inside kitchen facility much like the Ag Building has. And restrooms as well. Outside there is a dedicated parking lot that would be easier to control access to for tailgating. It’s believed the isolated parking area would be more secure and allow us to have a more established access route to the event for attendees.
Food service in 2025 was a big question mark. Mike WB3EQW and his wife Caroline saved the day with their planning and operations of the concession window. They have informed us that they don’t wish to run the food operations in 2026 so we are exploring options.
In short, 2026 will be a year to take advantage of the lessons learned in 2025. It’s going to be a great hamfest and everyone involved should be proud of the event we created.
