County Fair a Family Business for Volunteer of the Year

Very few people keep any one job for more than three decades, especially when they’re not being paid for it.

But since 1976, Edison’s Sheila Angalet has done just that, serving as a volunteer for the every summer for 35 years. And this year, the Middlesex County Fair Association has recognized Angalet by naming her Volunteer of the Year.

“I believe I got the letter from (Fair Association President) Alan (Habiak) in April, said Angalet. “I was very pleasantly surprised at the honor and very proud. My family was very excited by the news as well. All of my children felt it was well deserved.”

True to the nature of her honor, Angalet is looking forward to this year’s fair as much as any of the 35 she’s been involved with.

“I think what I find most rewarding is the reaction of the people who enter items in the Home Arts division,” she said. Home Arts and Crafts are where Angalet has focused over the years, having served as everything from Knitting and Crocheting Judge to Crafts Division Chair to creator of the Home Arts division’s Facebook page. “While every night is fun, opening night especially at the fair is always the most uplifting as many of those who enter, eagerly come to see how their items fared in the competition. I'm not sure who wears the biggest smile: those seeing their prizes or me for being so happy for them and sharing in their excitement.”

Something Angalet need never fear while donating time to the fair is that she’s ignoring her family: they’re all there right alongside her. The Angalet clan has grown to share their mother’s love for the annual event. Her eldest son David, now an East Brunswick resident, is a photography judge, her daughter Heather is Photography Division Chair, her daughter Brittany serves as Baked Goods, and her son Daniel and youngest daughter Ashley help in the Home Arts division. Angalet’s husband Dave also judges woodworking.

While the Middlesex County Fair has grown into a labor of love for the entire family over the past three and a half decades, in 1993, there were fears that a different sort of labor might become part of the festivities.

“I was imminently due with my fifth child,” Angalet says. “She was actually born the Friday after the fair ended, so it was really close! Members of the trustees kept teasing me, saying what great PR it would be if I gave birth right there at the fair. My answer to them was only if they gave the baby a lifetime pass to the fair as a welcome to the world.

“I was so large at that point, many people coming in Home Arts were nervous around me, and on Sunday night when we returned entries, many people did not want to walk the building with me for fear that I was going to pop at any moment.”

There’s much more to Angalet then simply a devoted fair volunteer. Before settling down to raise a family in Central New Jersey, she spent years as a professional dancer. “My last audition was right before I found out I was pregnant with my oldest. My plan was when he turned six months, I would go back, but a car accident when he was two months old wracked up my knee and basically ended dancing professionally.” She also spent time as a movement specialist for the Shoestring/Timotree Players based out of New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse, and served until very recently as Head Varsity Cheerleading Coach at Watchung’s Mount Saint Mary Academy.

But while dancing and coaching may come and go, Angalet considers the fair a constant. “The very best part has got to be the people,” she says. “I am so blessed to be a part of the fair ‘family’ and have so many wonderful people a part of this extended family. Those of us in Home Arts generally only get to see each other during the week of fair, yet every year without fail we just pick up where we left off the year before and enjoy a camaraderie that is unsurpassed anywhere.”Angalet will be officially recognized as Volunteer of the Year during the fair’s opening ceremonies on Monday, Aug. 1, in the main entertainment tent at 6 p.m.