Old favorites, new surprises at Cummington FairDate: 8/15/2023 CUMMINGTON — The traditional Sunday turkey dinner is back at the Cummington Fair this year, though there’ll be no drumstick for the tardy. Only 200 dinners will be sold.
The fairgrounds open on Thursday, Aug. 24 at 4 p.m., with the small engine arena, crafts barn and midway open to visitors. The pulling competition for horses over 3,400 pounds will close the fair at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27.
Whether for dinner or a ribbon, friendly competition is a primary attraction of the Cummington Fair, staged 155 summers since 1883. Along with blue ribbons for the best pumpkin, bull and duck, elders may compete in the golden wedding contest to see who’s married longest and has the most descendants. Winners in each category get a plaque.
Lifelong friendships often sprout from the competitions. Albert Judd, standing president of the Hillside Agricultural Society, the organization that produces the fair, sees the farming life passed on from generation to generation. He showed oxen at the fair as a boy, and now his daughters show cows.
“People that I showed with, my generation, my kids and their kids are now showing together,” Judd said. “I just love seeing everybody come together…people you may only see at fair season, though you’ve known them for 20, 30 years.”
Experienced fairgoers will be familiar with the traditional layout of the fairgrounds including the arena for old tractors and small engine equipment, 4H youth exhibit hall and Gillette amusement area. Tractor pulls and heavy sled competitions for horses and oxen, will again be staged before the grandstands. Behind the grandstand, the demolition derbies scheduled for Friday and Saturday night will fill the arena on “the hill.”
Judd, a Goshen resident, has a good sense of historical trends in agriculture. While the ranks of farmers in the Connecticut River valley may have slowly dwindled, he sees encouraging signs the trend is reversing. The fair always played an important role in the transfer of farming and livestock wisdom, but the challenges of global warming and new farming practices make the neighbor to neighbor education that happens at the fair even more valuable.
“That is a big portion of today’s fair, promoting and educating people on agriculture as a whole,” Judd said. “Everybody sees the games, the rides, the food, but…it’s more educating people about where their food comes from, how things are done and how things have changed over the years.”
Judd said that in a typical year the fair draws 20,000 visitors. Volunteers still play an essential role in staging the festivities. The board of directors has 17 unpaid members, several staff are on the payroll, and more than 50 volunteers show up for the weekend.
Presale day tickets are $12 online, $15 the day of the fair, with a discount for seniors and veterans. Adult four-packs are $43, online presale only, as are family packs for two adults and two children for $32. Tickets for the turkey dinner on Sunday go on sale at 3 p.m., with dinner served an hour later.
Judd said some gate receipts pay for scholarships for college students and support for 4H. Most of the income goes toward maintaining the fairgrounds. The Hillside Agricultural Society will wrap up several significant electrical projects this year, with substantial building projects planned for the near future.
“We like to keep the place as clean and as fresh as it can look for our customers every year, coming back, so they can say, ‘hey, look what they did new this year,’” Judd said. “We are very fortunate that we are able to do that.”
A fourth education shed is a new spot this year on the agricultural learning lane. Sheds for dairy and beef farming, forest products and plants and vegetables will make room for a shed on maple syrup and related products. Judd said fair organizers try to round out educational opportunities for agricultural industries still strong in the area, even horse farming. Some loggers still haul out felled trees with big dray horses, he said, but it’s becoming uncommon.
A pleasure on fair weekend, for Judd, is that he sees the party go off after a year of planning.
“I get to see the whole thing come together from an empty fairgrounds and a board of directors who work all year round with various people, to make it all happen, and volunteers, and make it as great as it is every year,” Judd said. “I’ve gotten to know some really great people from it, lifelong friends now.”
Tickets for the 155th Cummington Fair can be purchased at cummingtonfair.com/visit-the-fair/advanced-tickets.
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