| AUGUST 18, 2012 -- This is the time of year when one can tell a change is coming soon. Katydids are heard in the late afternoon. The evening light fades earlier and late summer flowers are in full bloom. These are sure signs of the coming fall and that means the Brooklyn Fair is nearly here.
The annual agricultural fair has been going strong for more than 200 years. It started when “a group of friends, neighbors and relatives got together during the harvest to enjoy the fruits of their labor and perhaps share techniques of farming and domestic life,” according to the Brooklyn Fair’s website. The gathering took place at Overlock Corners, near the present-day Vanilla Bean Café in Pomfret.
Everyone must have had a great time because it became an annual celebration. People from Brooklyn, Pomfret and Woodstock participated and the fair was shared among those towns in the early years. When the amount of visitors passed the 100 mark, organizers incorporated as the Windham County Agricultural Society in the spring of 1820. But it was not until 1849 that the event settled down to a permanent location at the corner of Fairgrounds Road and Route 169 in Brooklyn.
“The Windham County Fair at Brooklyn, Conn.,” became a late-summer tradition, eventually dropping parts of the name until it became simply the “Brooklyn Fair.”
Based on all of my research, it is the oldest continuous agricultural fair in the United States. It remains the only fair in Connecticut that operates a harness racetrack. In 2005, it was named Yankee Magazine’s Best Country Fair in New England. The Windham County Agricultural Society was honored by the Library of Congress in “Bicentennial Local Legacies Project” in 2000.
Exhibits of animals and crops are now augmented by the Better Living Building and exhibits of new gadgets and gizmos. For four days each August, residents and visitors to the region can enjoy the best The Last Green Valley has to offer in country living, food and traditions. Ask what is one’s favorite part of the Brooklyn Fair and the answers will be different: the fried dough, sulky races (two-wheeled carts pulled by horses), horse-pulling contests, musical entertainment, giant cups of lemonade, carnival rides, geese, cows, and on and on.
One thing is certain: Despite the variety in preferences, everyone agrees the Brooklyn Fair is an event joyfully anticipated each year. It’s the last fling before school starts for many area students, and the beginning of long sighs of relief for their parents.
NOTE: Many Connecticut Granges and Grangers are involved in the Brooklyn Fair. |
