Delaware State Fair cleaning crews sweep guests off their feet

HARRINGTON — The Delaware State Fair, continuing through Saturday, is filled with people, animals, food and more.

That combination could make for a big mess, but the fairgrounds’ maintenance staffers work hard to keep all areas clean, according to George Scuse, the fair’s facilities manager.

Mr. Scuse said he and his crew work tirelessly during the event’s 10 days, as well as before and after, to keep both indoor and outdoor sites as clean as possible.

One of the most difficult locations to maintain tidiness is the barn area, he noted. Each year, the fair has hundreds of exhibitors showing their animals, from cows to pigs to birds.

For each, wood shavings are provided to bed the animal’s pen. But it is an exhibitor’s responsibility to keep those pens clean and fresh.

Plus, at the end of each barn, there are areas to dump animal waste, which is, in turn, picked up by the grounds crew daily.

“We have concrete pads with walls around them, called bunkers, and the exhibitors clean all their animal waste up and put that in the bunkers,” Mr. Scuse said. “Then, we take a skid loader and a dump truck or dump wagon and haul it back to a manure structure.”

Workers get this done each morning, before guests enter the grounds.

“It’s hard to get around there sometimes after certain times, so we try to be done around 10-10:30 in the morning,” Mr. Scuse said, adding that disposing of that waste could be more difficult on days animals are being shown.

“On show day, you really have to be in the buildings to realize what it is,” he noted. “If that cow poops, then boom, (exhibitors) are right there with a pitchfork picking it up because they don’t want them to lay in it because they have them clean and stuff. So, that is a lot of stuff right before the shows.”

Later in the year, staff will spread the collected manure in the parking fields, he explained.

There’s a lot of work to do cleaning up after two-legged visitors, too.

The fairgrounds has multiple bathrooms, with people using them all day. A company from Pennsylvania is contracted to maintain them, Mr. Scuse said.
Meantime, the fair’s “Clean Team” empties trash cans, wipes tables and keeps up the facility’s overall cleanliness.

“We have a Clean Team that is comprised of about 75-80 people,” Mr. Scuse said. “They are scheduled here in the morning and right on through to midnight.”

Members are split into zones, with one of the largest areas being the food court.

“They are wiping the tables down as soon as someone gets up. The big thing is keeping after the trash cans,” he continued.

Even after the popular events in the M&T Bank Grandstand each night, the Clean Team tidies the track and the seating areas, straightening chairs and picking up any debris left behind.

Mr. Scuse also noted that one of the biggest challenges for the facilities crew is recycling. There are recycle bins throughout the grounds, but staff have realized that many do not know what can go in them.

“One of the big issues we have had in the past, and it’s an educational thing, is recycling,” he said. “A lot of people do not realize what can and can’t go in the recycle. With the single-stream stuff, once it’s contaminated, you can’t take it to the landfill.”