FARMINGTON – Whether you’re at the 177th Farmington Fair for the rides, food or agriculture shows, the fair’s historic side also deserves a visit.
Mostly lined up along the High Street side of the fairgrounds, a number of smaller historic buildings have assembled over the years to create one of the more complete pictures of the region’s agricultural, forestry and educational histories. The newest addition, the Little Old Library from New Sharon, has arrived and is expected to be open in time for the 2018 fair. It will join the Red Schoolhouse, the Saphouse, the Agriculture Museum and buildings dedicated to the Western Maine Blacksmiths and the forestry implements.
The Red Schoolhouse’s biggest day is Monday, when local-area students take turns practicing exercises with chalk and slate. In its previous life, the school was District #14’s Briggs School, built in 1852 as a K-8 school and educating local students until they were transferred to W.G. Mallett in 1958. The school was moved to the fairgrounds in 2006 and restored the next year in time for the fair.
The agriculture museum contains a large variety of tools and conveyances, ranging from farming implements to fire extinguishers. Pieces are donated to the museum from across Franklin County and beyond, arranged in displays that attempt to mimic the homes and farms of yesteryear. A nearby outbuilding contains a forestry display, including a large shingle mill donated in the memory of Kennard Robert Mason.
Each year, the fair hosts a different historic society or museum; this year’s participant is the Wilhelm Reich Museum from Rangeley. Based out the Austrian-born psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich’s home and research center, Orgonon, the museum is devoted to the controversial doctor. Reich investigated an energy he named “orgone” for two decades beginning in the 1940s, claiming it could be collected and used for a variety of properties that ranged from curing cancer to altering the weather. Reich was eventually jailed and several tons of his writings were burned after the Food and Drug Administration launched an investigation after he began marketing orgone accumulators. He died in prison on Nov. 3, 1957.
Despite his more controversial investigations, Reich’s work in the field of psychotherapy influenced a generation of intellectuals and writers. His home was turned into a museum after his death, operated by the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust. The museum is open in July and August, as well as Saturday’s in September. More information can be found here.
There are plenty of active exhibits in addition to the ones already listed: the Western Maine Blacksmiths and the Western Maine Beekeepers can be found in the museum section, as can the Saphouse. The Saphouse will be hosting a pancake breakfast tomorrow, Sept. 23, from 7 to 10 a.m., featuring pancakes, bacon/ham, eggs, baked beans, home fries, toast, juice and coffee, fruit and, of course, maple syrup. The cost is $7 for adults and $4 for children.
