I stopped over this afternoon to chat with the friendly folks at Lifeshare Community Blood Services.

They’re set up at the fair and are ready to take your blood.

They said they get about 65 to 70 units of blood a day and are hoping to have 500 by the end of the fair.

They’ve been seeing a lot of familiar faces lining up to give blood, they said. For a lot of people it’s a fair tradition.

Working the Lifeshare Community Blood Services this afternoon were Vicki Schweinberg of Vermilion, Mike Salisbury of Amherst, Rose Weigand of Vermilion, Jenn Copeland of Elyria, Vanessa Jungbluth of Sheffield and April Ballachino of Columbia Station. (Photo by Rona Proudfoot, The Chronicle-Telegram.)

Anyone who donates blood gets a T-shirt and is entered to win one of two $50 gas cards that are raffled off daily.

LifeCare is the onlly source of blood to all of Lorain County’s hospitals.

Looking for a cool drink at the Lorain County Fair?

Stop by one of three lemonade booths staffed by Keystone High School softball players, and you’ll not only get a sweet treat, you’ll help the team make another run for a title.

Danyel Whitacre, Brittany Bachman and Caitlyn Minney were working the lemonade stand by the Kool Kat Oldies tent. Whitacre, a sophomore, is a catcher and first baseman on the softball team; Bachman, a sophomore, plays second base; and Minney, a freshman, is a pitcher.

Today’s hot weather is driving people to their booth for lemonade, the said.

That’s good news for the team. The money they raise will go to buy uniforms and equipment.

The Keystone softball team made it to the semifinals last year, they said, and the varsity team only lost four games.

Brittany Bachman, Danyel Whitacre and Caitlyn Minney are making lemonade to raise money for the Keystone softball team at the Lorain County Fair. (Photo by Rona Proudfoot, The Chronicle-Telegram.)

Contact Rona Proudfoot at rproudfoot@chroniclet.com, (440) 371-0792 or stop by to see her at the fair. She’s based at the WEOL booth and will be wandering the fairgrounds in a bright gold Chroniclet.com T-shirt.

Kiddieland at the Lorain County Fair is back up and running after a brief power outage early this afternoon.

The power outage only affected the children’s rides and lasted about 25 minutes, according to workers selling tickets this afternoon.

Several parents became irate and several were threatened they might be removed from the fairgrounds, but “as soon as the rides were back up and running, everyone was happy again,” according to a fair worker.

As a result of the outage, the $8 afternoon children’s ride pass, which is normally good from noon to 5 p .m., will be honored until 6 p.m.

Hey, fairgoers, I’m working on a story on the best giveaways at the Lorain County Fair, and I need your help!

I wish I had all day to wander around and find them for myself, but, unfortunately, my bosses actually want me to be working.

Anyway, please leave a comment or e-mail me at rproudfoot@chroniclet.com and let me know which booths have the best free stuff. Any info on booth location is much appreciated as well!

If you want, send me pictures of you and your loot!