Summer 2009
Inside VL
Fair Days
One day in the late ’70s, I was allowed to skip school to attend the local fair. The day is forever etched in my mind because I could play hooky — unthinkable! — and go with my 23-year-old brother John, one of six older siblings. We shared pizza and cotton candy and pie, watched oxen and horse pulls and went on rides that flipped us upside down, emptying our pockets of change. He won a goldfish for me. At 10 years old, it was pure happiness.
Shortly thereafter, that 170-year-old fair was plowed under, a victim of suburban sprawl in southwestern Connecticut. In its place grew up one of the largest shopping malls in New England. A parking lot now covers the ground where the midway and farm shows used to be.
Fortunately small-town agricultural fairs are alive and well in Vermont. Year after year, our fairs burst into life in what are usually quiet open fields: From Tunbridge to the Champlain Valley to Deerfield in southern Vermont, pies are judged, calves shown, rides enjoyed, and clowns ... well, clowns are avoided by most people.
The fairs provide fun and hope and relief from everyday life — a place for kids to let loose, for adults to forget the stress of field or office and for teenagers to meet — and sometimes even fall in love.
Last summer we asked photographer Daria Bishop to capture the magic of our fairs, and the result is “Ticket to Ride” (page 22) — a masterful portrait of the Vermont fair as it is today, complete with farm animals, rides, tattoos and text messaging. It is a glimpse into a part of summer that any Vermonter will surely recognize, but few stop to ponder. Our photos will help you see it, and appreciate it, in a whole new light.
Here’s hoping the summer fair lives on in Vermont for many years to come, for generations of friends and families — sisters and brothers — to enjoy.
Also in this issue:
Quadricentennial events celebrating Lake Champlain are hitting full stride this summer. For a quick take on some major festivities, turn to This Season (page 6). Also in this issue, we’ve devoted our book reviews (page 13) to the lake; provided a guide on how to get out on this magnificent body of water even if you don’t own a boat (“Shore Leave,” page 40); and added a rainy-day destination (“Open to Interpretation,” page 46) about a traveling exhibit by 38 painters who convey their wonder of the lake. Want more Champlain? Look for our Celebrating Champlain special issue ... just visit www.vermontlifecatalog.com.
Mary Hegarty Nowlan, Editor
