ROCHESTER — The Boy Scouts have a long history of helping to direct parking at the Rochester Country Fair, but this year one Eagle Scout candidate is going a little further to help the fair.

Patrick Flannery of Rochester Boy Scout Troop 31, a recent graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School, elected to make sturdy and portable handicap signs for the Country Fair parking lot.

Flannery and other scouts completed the design and construction work on 28 signs (including 4 van accessible signs) on Aug. 2.

The Country Fair has been an annual event for more than 20 years, affording non-profit organizations such as the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Venture Scouts, 4H Club, Lions Club, Friends of the Library, Council on Aging, Womans Club, Firefighters Association, Police Brotherhood, local farmers, animal shelters, scholarships and more, the chance to offer events, booths, food, activities as fundraisers.

The Rochester Country fair formerly had plastic signs, which frequently broke and had to be replaced. Flannery’s Eagle Scout Project Coach, Illana Mackin said that this pattern wasn’t “cost effective.”

The new rebar signs are much sturdier, she said, and when they are not in use with the Country Fair, they will be available for the Town of Rochester to use for other events, if needed.

"I really wanted to do something that would help and give back to my community. The Country Fair Committee needed these signs and I was happy to work with them to create them,” Flannery said.

Mackin also weighed in on Flannery’s project.

“Even when something seems simple there’s an awful lot of planning behind it,” she said, adding that, it is “so important for those with limited mobility to have access to the fair.”