Cold temperatures cause Westmoreland Fair exhibitors to bundle up while bunking with animals

There is strength in numbers — and also warmth.

That’s something Sophia Bankosh is grateful for this week as she and a handful of friends are camping out overnight together in a horse barn during unseasonably low temperatures at the Westmoreland Fair.

Overnight temperatures are expected to dip into the 50s several nights in a row.

This is Bankosh’s second year showing a horse at the fair.

“Last year was really hot, and I was expecting it to be hot again,” Bankosh said.

But five friends bunking together helps to generate extra warmth.

“We have a tack stall at the bottom of the barn,” she said. “We all set up hammocks and cots.”

Rachel Ramaley, 23, of Derry Township has been showing Ayrshire cows at the fair since she was 6, and this year is the first time chilly temperatures bothered her — even before the sun set.

“I have never sat here in a hoodie in the middle of the day,” she said. “I’m not complaining, but it’s a first.”

Andy Polka, 16, of Salem was preparing to camp out with a chair and blanket next to his grandmother’s 9-year-old miniature horse, Pippa. He brought along a special blanket for his 33-inch-tall companion.

“We have a heated barn on our farm, so she’s not used to this,” he said.

A low-pressure system from Canada is causing temperatures this week to drop about 10 degrees below normal, according to Rich Redmond, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh office.

Early Thursday, temperatures in rural Westmoreland County could fall into the 40s, Redmond said.

“We’ll feel the effect into Friday,” he said. “Then we’ll start to see warmer air move back in.”