Keith Frauhiger takes a walk down Bluffton Street Fair’s memory lane
By DAVE SCHULTZ
There are people who like the Bluffton Free Street Fair, there are people who love the Bluffton Free Street Fair, and then there’s Keith Frauhiger.
Consider that the Street Fair has been producing front license plates — the state of Indiana doesn’t require them, leaving an opening — since 1991. Frauhiger has every one of them, and he doesn’t know of anyone else that can say that.
His pride and joy, however, are three items from the first Street Fair in 1898 — a special postal commemorative cancellation, a button, and a pin, all related to the event.
“This is the trifecta for me,” he said during an interview in his house on Bluffton’s southeast side. “As far as I know, they are one of a kind.”
Frauhiger is a lifelong resident of Bluffton and he remembers walking to the fair when he was a grade school student at Park School. School students would line up on West Washington Street and march through the streets on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, students were out of class the entire day. It was the Street Fair, after all.
He also served as a Street Fair board member for 41 years, retiring off the board after the 2022 fair. He worked at the Bluffton post office with Denny Monroe who asked him if he liked the fair and his reply was in the affirmative. “I helped with the band parade for 41 years,” and also helped with other events, he said.
He’s delighted that the fair still has the three parades and is looking forward to viewing them all as a spectator. He loves the “community event.”
“I can actually sit and watch one,” he said. “My way of giving back to the community has always been the Street Fair. Now, I can go in and just enjoy the fair. It’s a different feeling. It would be nice to be there (in terms of being involved), and it’s nice to not be there.”
“I like getting involved,” he concluded. “It’s fun doing things.”
daves@news-banner.com
