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Date: 3/21/2023
NORTHAMPTON — The Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Society, which is the nonprofit organization that manages Northampton’s Three County Fair and fairgrounds, recently elected Thomas Smiarowski as their new president.
Smiarowski, a current resident of Belchertown, has been with the organization for more than 20 years and was elected to its board of directors back in 2016. He has also served as the organization’s vice president before being elected as president at the fair’s Annual Meeting back in January.
As president, Smiarowski will lead the Society’s Board of Directors, which consists of 21 other appointees who make up the fair’s agricultural leadership. He succeeds former president Art Lyman and expects to serve a two-year term in the new position.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Smiarowski described the appointment as an honor and a humbling experience.
“If I look back at past presidents, who they were and what they did in terms of community, it’s kind of a humbling experience,” Smiarowski said.
The new president brings extensive agricultural experience to this position, as evidenced by his lengthy resume. Smiarowski grew up on the family vegetable and dairy farm in Montague where he continues to help his brother Dan, who currently owns and operates the family farm.
He worked for 34 years with USDA-Farm Service Agency, where he held a number of management positions. After retiring from USDA in 2012, Smiarowski worked as an agricultural risk management educator for UMass Extension.
Smiarowski is currently a director of the Massachusetts Agricultural Club, the longest standing agricultural club in the country; serves as a Massachusetts Trustee of the Eastern States Exposition and is a member of the New England Vegetable and Berry Growers Association.
With this extensive background, Smiarowski said he hopes to maintain a general focus on agriculture at the fair. He mentions that one of the only good things to come out of the coronavirus pandemic was people’s general concern for supply chains that provided their food during those tough times.
“I think our fair, and any agricultural fairs for that matter, played an important role in terms of providing a connection between the public and the farmers who either exhibit animals at the fair or bring in crops for demonstrations or other exhibits,” said Smiarowski.
Aside from maintaining a heavy focus on agricultural, Smiarowski said another one of his goals is to secure more public funding for larger infrastructure projects throughout the fair.
For instance, Smiarowski said that there is a larger grandstand within the fair that is currently being improved for better handicap access. “We were able to receive a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism that will basically fund half of that improvement,” said Smiarowski. “The other half, we have to come up with as a fair…we’re talking about a project that is going to be an excess of $300,000.”
Meanwhile, the organization is also looking to transform the backside of the grandstand, where the old betting windows used to be for horse racing, into a food vendor events. Smiarowski said they currently do not have the financial resources to embark on such a hefty project, but it is something they are looking at long-term.
“In addition to that, we need electrical upgrades in a number of the buildings,” said Smiarowski. “One of my goals is to reach out to local legislators and see if we can come up with some type of permanent infrastructure funding for the fair.”
The Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden County Agricultural Society, which was incorporated in 1818, promotes agriculture, agricultural education, agricultural science and sustainability for the region through exhibitions, displays, competitions and demonstrations and annually operates
The Three County Fair is recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the oldest ongoing fair in continuous operation in the United States.