NORTHAMPTON — The smells of fried food, ketchup and hamburgers filled the air as thousands of sweaty and smiling fairgoers explored the many activities at this year’s Three County Fair over a four-day stretch that ended on Labor Day.

With every whoosh of the giant swinging pendulum ride came thrilled shrieks. And constant laughter, tired cries of children, and music resonated across the grounds.

“In my mind, there’s nothing better than a country fair,” said Walter Thayer, who had five old red tractors on display at the Farm Museum.

Two fairgoers, Gabrielle Gautieri and her young daughter Mika Manin, were enjoying the fair for the second day in a row.

“It’s a big year because Mika meets the height requirements for the rides,” said Gautieri, adding that she just tried “The Orbiter,” a ride where cars spin in groups of three while orbiting a central vertical axis.

When asked why she likes the fair, Manin responded, “Loud music, lots of people, and getting stuff,” as she bear-hugged a blow-up banana prize that was almost her size.

Longing to get back to the rides as she waited in the stands for the school bus demolition derby, along with hundreds of other eager spectators, Manin groaned to her mom, “Come on, we’re wasting all our day on this.”

“I’m stoked to see this,” said another spectator, Cyndy Shoestock. “I’ve seen regular derbies, but not the school buses.”

It didn’t take long for the sounds of sirens and rumbling of engines beyond the gates to signify the start of the derby, and for the applause and cheering to erupt from the crowd.

Thrown some ‘curveballs’

First held in 1818, the Three County Fair is recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the oldest ongoing fair in continual operation in the United States.

With four straight days of sunshine, this year’s fair drew over 35,000 people, though final counts will have to be done manually after a power outage shut down the attendance system for a period of time during the fair.

“We’ve been thrown a lot of curveballs that weren’t rain this year,” General Manager James Przypek said.

On Saturday, there was a large Comcast internet outage, and on Sunday, a car accident on Pleasant Street caused a loss of electricity from around 5:45 to 7:15 p.m.

“There’s a huge ripple effect,” said Przypek. “From a ticket sales standpoint, we can do cash. For food vendors, some of them were worried about refrigeration. The demolition derby was getting ready to start… We had to adjust, and thankfully the power was restored.”

Uplifting farms

In response to this summer’s heavy rains and flooding that wiped out hundreds of acres of crops, the Three County Fair donated $10,000 to the Massachusetts Resiliency Farm Fund, CISA, and the Local Farmer Awards Emergency Flood Relief Fund, with ceremonies taking place at the fair.

A donation bin was also set up for attendees to contribute directly to farmers hit by the floods.

“Agriculture is still so rich here in western Mass., so there’s a lot of tremendous support for that,” said Przypek. “The older generation and all the way down to the youngest kids get involved in learning about what has been done and what has continued to be done to sustain how we live.”

That agricultural history was on full display at the Farm Museum, which exhibited old tractors, corn shellers, an onion planter, a tobacco shed miniature, a fanning mill, and other agricultural machinery with labeled explanations.

“There’s a lot of history in here,” said Thayer, sitting near his red tractors at the museum. “And I know younger kids are interested in it because they will ask questions and get answers because all of these people are connected with farms.”

Over in the poultry barn, over a hundred chickens were clucking and nibbling on feed in small metal cages, each with a ribbon designating what rank the chicken achieved in competition. Fairgoers of all ages marveled at the sight.

One man even burst out into a guttural cry like that of a turkey, to which a chicken actually responded with a “cluck.”

“There are about 50 different things that they judge on each bird,” said Kate Morreale of Golden Egg Farm in Hardwick. “They’re looking for the spacing between the toes; they’re looking for the straightness of the beak; the color of the eyes; the shape of the comb; the number of the toes.”

And just to the left of the chicken display, in the dairy barn, were cow showings throughout the day.

“We shave them, make them look nice, wash them, and then walk them around the ring,” said Dominic Crochier, a 16-year-old who showed three Holstein dalmatian-like cows.

“And judging is based on different things depending on what the class is. Right now it’s showmanship,” said Crochier.

While most spectators at the showing were smiling and delighted, others were less thrilled.

“Honestly I think it’s boring as hell,” said Shaina Torres, who was there all day to see her 5-year-old son show his aunt’s cows.

Outside of the barns, 10-year-old Eva Davis announced the “Wee Wee Wee Racing Pigs,” where pigs and goats race around a ring.

“I pretty much always do the exact same script,” said Davis, her hands on her hips. “Sometimes I like to add in a little bit of a joke to use my real personality.”

“I love seeing all the kids happy,” she said.

Other displays at the fair included a collection of cornmeal machines, music by a Shania Twain tribute artist along with 15 other local artists, an art and baked goods competition, and a magic show.

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com or on Twitter @MaddieFabian.]]>