Indya Cowan, 1, of Lititz, was a hit at the Manheim Community Farm Show baby parade Monday night.
Beth Peters is the 2009 Manheim Community Farm Show queen.
Left, dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy, siblings John Wenger Jr., 5, and Kelton Wenger, 15 months, enjoy the baby parade in Manheim on Monday night. Right, Skyelar Forry, 11 months, is quite the love bug.
The bluegrass band on stage played everything from Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan.
Teenage queen candidates and younger junior-queen and "princess" candidates stood off to the side with a parent (in one case, a grandfather) awaiting their turn on stage.
Visitors stopped at an exhibit on farming in the Manheim area "now and then," a site all about paying tribute to what the weeklong event is really about.
And as the chill settled in Monday at dusk, it looked like just about the largest opening-night crowd that Manheim Community Farm Show organizers could remember.
It was the first Monday night in October, and it kicked off the 2009 edition of a celebration that's "all about community."
There were still officially 15 minutes to go Monday until Manheim's 56th annual farm show was to start, and 74-year-old Clarence Lowe of nearby Milton Grove, who's gone to pretty much all 56, was watching the crowd.
"It's a nice place for families to come out and enjoy all of activities. … It's very much about community," Lowe said.
"We just got here, and look at all these people!"
Skip down a generation, and there was Kelly Collins of Harrisburg, formerly Kelly Nauman of Manheim, returning to a farm show she's gone to for all of her 30-plus years.
It's about family, tradition "and food," said Collins, accompanied by her husband Jason and their three children.
After the bluegrass band Dick Trump & Friends had finished, 20-year-old Beth Peters was crowned the 2009 Manheim Community Farm Show queen.
The third of four children of the Rev. Jay and Margie Peters of Manheim, she is considering a career in missions work and has been active with her church, Hernley Mennonite, where her father is a pastor.
Monday night's events included a baby parade along with the official opening ceremonies and the queen contest. For many, the real highlight will be Wednesday's farm show parade, which will feature 140 entries.
Inside a nearby hall, the new exhibit on Manheim-area agriculture is aimed at "keeping the integrity of what the farm show is all about," show vice president Seth Kensinger said Monday.
"This being a farm show and not a fair, it's something we wanted to emphasize."
There was a record number of flower entries this year, amid other signs the yearly farm show is doing well, he said.
The Manheim celebration, the last of the Lancaster County farm shows and fairs of 2009, continues through Friday at the farm show grounds adjacent to Manheim Central.
Tonight is the annual baked goods sale at the stage, starting at 6:15 p.m.
Top prize-winning baked goods will be auctioned off, with all proceeds put into the farm show's general fund.
Wednesday's parade is to begin at 7 o'clock.
Thursday evening is "Family Fun Night" and also will feature the annual Farm Show benefit auction starting at 6 p.m.
Friday will feature two performances by entertainer and magician John Cassidy and the annual youth livestock sale at the livestock show ring, starting at 6 p.m.
Admission and parking are free, and there are more than 20 food stands. For more information, visit www.manheimag.org.