For the majority of Penn State students from outside Centre County, the Grange Fair is an unknown treasure.

A longstanding local tradition, the fair, which runs through tomorrow, is more than 130 years old and features top-name entertainers, famous fair food, exhibit competitions, animals and some unique Grange Fair traditions.

Unlike many county fairs, the Grange Fair is often described as one big family reunion because fair goers don't simply go to the fair. Many actually spend the week living on the ground in tents and RVs.

Darlene Confer, tent camp secretary, said the Grange Fair is the only tenting fair in the country.

The grounds currently hold 960 tents, and there is a waiting list of more than 500 people, Confer said.

"Many people have family that has been coming for generations," she said. "They pass their tents down from year to year."

Confer's son Ian (senior-accounting) is part of the tenting tradition as a 21-year fair veteran. His family has a tent, and his grandparents have a motor home on the grounds.

"I've been coming since I was 10 months old," he said.

Ian Confer said the best part of the fair is seeing everyone again.

"You see your cousins, kids from high school and kids you grew up with down the tent row," he added.

Though the fair does not have strict hours, tenters do have a 1-to-6 a.m. curfew.

Michelle LaBoda (sophomore-health and human development) attended the fair for the first time Friday and returned for more Sunday.

"It's really impressive how big it is and organized," she said.

This year, the fair has about 350 concession stands.

Concession Secretary Bob Corman said fair organizers have added a few new stands this year, one featuring Cajun food and another that serves Mexican-style fried ice cream.

But the Grange Fair classics have not been forgotten.

"A lot of people come here for the sausage," Corman said. "We have about three or four sausage stands that are notorious."

Fair goers also enjoy other traditional fair foods.

French fries, funnel cakes and soup in an edible bread bowl complete a balanced diet of fair food.

The exhibits -- animals as common as dairy cows to those as exotic as emus -- inhabit the barns and are judged in the show arenas.

Judging also takes place in buildings on the fairgrounds, where people enter everything from prized vegetables to favorite family photos.

Cassie Niebel (freshman-engineering) has had plenty of time to enter her artwork in the fair.

"I've been coming to the fair since forever," she said. "I've entered drawings, paintings and crafts, but mostly art things."

But Niebel hasn't limited herself to artwork. She, along with many others from Centre County, has participated in baking competitions, in which people enter everything from cookies and brownies to bread and pies, continuing the fair's "something for everyone" tradition.