Few people in Delaware County know the Delaware County Fair better than Diane and Ed Cox, who have lived directly across from it since the 1960s.

Diane said she has literally been to every fair since it was moved to the fairgrounds on Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1940s and said going to the fair is a tradition.

“We go every day, every year,” Diane said.

Diane and Ed said the fair is extra special now because their adult children and extended family come home from Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to attend the fair. “It brings our family all together. That’s important to us.”

Ed said they moved into their home across from the main gate on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1965 and have seen the fair grow and change in all that time.

“It’s so much bigger, where the horse arena is and beyond is new, well ‘new’ compared to what it was in our day,” Diane joked.

“[Gesturing to the Pennsylvania Avenue gate] That used to be the main entrance and after the races we used to be able to watch all the drunks leave but that doesn’t happen much anymore,” she laughed.

Diane and Ed said their parents were involved in the fair in many ways, including working at the grandstand and working in church tents preparing food.

Likewise, Diane said they have participated in numerous activities at the fair over the years and said she used to serve on the junior fair board for a number of years. Diane added she enters antiques and flowers into competitions during the fair.

Ed said he also enters vegetables and flowers into competitions and maintains five flower beds at the fairgrounds as well as mulching and trimming around the grounds. Ed added that he has planted about 125 trees on the fairgrounds and said he used to work Jug Day, taking tickets.

“We just love the fair; it’s been a part of our lives forever. Our whole lives …” Diane said.