FARMINGTON – The final preparations for the 176th annual Farmington Fair are in full gear Saturday morning with the fair set to open 8:30 a.m. with the 4-H working steer pull on Sunday.
The annual fair will feature its traditional livestock shows and contests, pari-mutuel racing, exhibitions, midway games of chance, rides and a variety of good eats.
A few new food vendors have added to the mix this year, the Starbird building is completely full with area organizations and business displays and demonstrations, said Neal Yeaton, the Franklin County Agricultural Society secretary.
For the third year, the Drag Your Neighbor will be held 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the race track in front of the grand stands. Neighbors challenge neighbors in this race down the track, which makes for an exciting spectator sport.
“This year there’s been a lot more interest in it; people are really talking about it,” Yeaton said.
Despite a last minute change in the museum display that usually features a different town each year at the fair, New Sharon’s Historical Committee has stepped up to the plate to fill the space next to the Exhibition Hall with plenty of artifacts and photographs to bring its town history alive.
On Saturday Darlene Power, Daniel and Adam Meng and Robert Smith were busy hanging photographic collections and museum pieces for display. Power said the last minute request for a historical display has been a challenge.
“Couldn’t have asked for a better team,” she said of the volunteers working overtime. The town’s former library building is expected to be moved to the fairgrounds in a year and a half. Proceeds from the recent sale of the property it sits on will help pay to relocate the small, historic building here. The committee will then install a permanent collection for display.
Over at the American Legion Post 28 Bingo building, volunteers were busy making sure everything, from the markers to the bouncing balls, will be ready for opening day.
Veterans Peter Tracy and Paul Dalrymple don’t exactly know how long the Legion’s Bingo has been going on at the fair.
“I remember coming here when I was four or five years old and I’m 69,” Dalrymple said. Getting a seat at a Bingo table used to be difficult but these days it’s not as popular as it once was, Tracy said. Bingo games still rev up on Tuesday and Thursday of fair week because those are the fair’s Senior Citizen days when a discounted admission of $2 is offered for those 62 and up and Bingo is still the older set’s game of choice. Fridays can also be a busy night for the post’s fund raiser.
While the guys were testing the ball machine and moving tables in long lines, Legion auxiliary members, Margie Powers and Lorene Pratt, were making sure they’ll be enough good eats through the week.
As is the Bingo tradition, hot dogs and other goodies will be available everyday with specialty beans to be served up on Monday, Tuesday will be Mac & Cheese day, Wednesday soup, Thursday Chop Suey and Friday has been declared leftover day, Powers said smiling.
More than 40 volunteers help operate the Bingo building during fair week, Tracy noted.
Below is this year’s Farmington Fair program:
We will be displaying in the old library building yearly, once it is moved to the Fair grounds, the other 51 weeks a year, it will be on display at the New Sharon Town Office.
Barbara Holt has donated a lot of time on the community garden in East Wilton and at the grange.