What really is a "Country Fair"?

Having grown up directly across the street from a wonderful county fair, it is amazing to me that there are many in our society who don’t know the first thing about a county fair. Case in point, last week I was talking to a sales executive in New York City. I was telling her of our need to educate the public in the Metro area about county fairs. They have wonderful street festivals but, they really don’t know what a county fair is all about. The young woman informed me that she had been to a county fair so she knew what a county fair was. When questioned further about what county fair she had visited (because I have been to hundreds of them), her reply came quickly, “Oh, I went to a Renaissance Festival once.”

Many events use the name “fair”. There are book fairs and science fairs and street fairs. But, if the event does not showcase agriculture and feature competition in various categories of animal showmanship, domestic and fine arts exhibits, it is not a county fair. Last year at the Dutchess County Fair, we had 1700 individual exhibitors bring to the fair over 10,000 individual entries. Now, that’s a county fair. And I don’t expect anything less this year.

We are in the midst of the celebration of 200 years of agricultural fairs in America, as we know them. Our fair here is the largest six day county fair in the state and probably east of the Mississippi. It is recognized by industry insiders, those who travel to and make their livings at fairs, as one of the bestin the country.

I love the quote, “When the student is ready, the teacher arrives.” As a former Social Studies teacher, I would like to invite especially those who do not know about the wonders of the county fair to mark their calendars for Aug. 23 through 28 and come to Rhinebeck, NY for the Dutchess County Fair. The teacher is waiting!

Fairgrounds Announces Bixby's "Dare to be Dazzled" Tour

On a sunny day or beautiful night, there is really no place on earth were I would rather be than on a fairgrounds. On a rainy day, that same fairgrounds is the last place I want to be. I was faced with just those realities this past weekend during the 4^th of July Great American Celebration on the Dutchess Co. Fairgrounds. Saturday night’s rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the drivers in the Demolition Derby but, it certainly kept our attendance low and generally gave all of us the blahs!

Contrast that with Monday night and our 4^th of July Hudson Valley Philharmonic Concert with fireworks. With stars in the sky and just the slightest slivery moon overhead, we felt magic in the air! Literally thousands came; men, women and children. We celebrated our freedom, had fun, and savored the wonderful music and brilliant fireworks display.

With the enthusiasm of kids on Christmas morning, or remembering the excitement of blowing out the candles on our birthday cake at a very young age, we now totally turn our attention to the 166^th Dutchess County Fair. It will take place on this same fairgrounds from August 23^rd through the 28^th. This year, I think I want to call it “The Year of the Child”. We are emphasizing that children under 12 come to the fair free of charge. So, we are using our pre-fair brochure to do a better job of explaining to kids who might not know anything about a county fair, exactly what we are all about.

We are using our friend, Bixby who will return to the fair with his Rainforest Experience to conduct the “Dare to Be Dazzled” tour. In our pre-fair brochure, he will walk children through all of the magic, the fun, the animals, the rides, games, and food, the gardens, the museums and everything else that defines us as a wonderful county fair.

Whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, set the dates aside, Aug. 23 – 28. Rhinebeck, NY is the place to be. Come and “dare to be dazzled” at the 166^th Dutchess Co. Fair.