Summertime is county fair time! All across the region, local folks and youngsters have been hard at work preparing their animals, crops, agricultural goods, baked goods and arts and crafts for the big weekend.
The Little World’s Fair takes place the third weekend of August each year in Grahamsville, NY. It’s a venue for farmers and craftspeople to gather and show or display their livestock, produce and crafts while providing community fellowship with music and entertainment. It’s also the official Sullivan County Fair/Youth Fair. This year in its 145th year, the fair was very much anticipated, hugely popular – and the longest-running independent fair in New York State.
The animal barns were filled with various livestock, many of which had their young owners and handlers staying with their animals – horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and alpacas – as well as a separate agricultural building with chickens, rabbits and turkeys. 4-H, FFA and horse club youths created and decorated signs introducing their animals and demonstrations to the public and visitors to the barn. There were flags and signs from various horse farms and stables hung along the animal stalls and sides of the barn, with trunks, riding tack and neatly stacked bales of hay.
The youngsters had carefully prepared displays and were happy to describe their posters and talk about their animals. 4-H and FFA leaders were seen giving instructions and last-minute tips to youngsters before they brought their animals out to show.
The show rings were busy all weekend. Friday featured the open horse show in the large horse arena, ranging from the smallest riders in the “leadline” classes who rode their horses led by an adult or older handler to the riders in Novice, Youth and Open divisions for those of any age. Spectators lined the banks and benches above the ring and enjoyed class after class, from Western to English.
There were halter classes that focused on the horse, its conformation and how well it typified its breed type, as well as showmanship classes, which are performance classes in which horses compete individually. There were also equitation classes, where the riders rather than the horses were judged.
My favorite class is the Command Class, an exciting competition that showcases a well-trained and responsive horse. The judge directs the riders to have their horses perform a “command” such as walk, jog or trot, lope or canter, stop, back up, reverse, etc. The entrants are judged by how quickly and willingly their horse obeys their command within just a couple of steps. Those who take too many steps in between are asked to wait in the center, one at a time, under the discretion of the judge until there is only one, the winning competitor, left.
The upper rings were busy with the youth swine show, youth and open sheep shows, youth alpaca show and youth and open meat goat shows. Youngsters of all ages spent most of their days leading up to the fair preparing their animals for the upcoming events. On Friday, when I attended, many were washing, combing, brushing, clipping, trimming and carefully grooming their animals for the show.
The animal action was above the fairway and up on the hill near the barns. This was a ribbon-winning sheep; it went on to receive Reserve Champion in its next class. Photo by Judy Van Put
Other entertainments included racing pigs, a karate demonstration, lots of rides, live music and, of course, many concessions with a wide variety of foods and drinks.
In the agricultural building, the Youth Poultry Showmanship and Egg Judging was ongoing, where visitors could observe chicks hatching out of eggs in an incubator as they walked by, or be shown how to hold a bunny where the rabbits were caged.
Saturday offered family activities all day, with the 4-H Youth Artisan Market in the Youth Barn, the youth and open dairy show, a children’s scavenger hunt, a coffee cake baking competition, a lumberjack show, a 4-H chicken show, a watermelon-eating contest, a parade, and at night, a spectacular fireworks display.
Sunday’s lineup featured the youth and open beef shows, an animal costume contest, “A Day with Horses” youth horse exhibition, an antique tractor and classic car show and the eagerly anticipated draft horse pull. Hosted by the NYS Horse Pullers Association, the contest is a highlight of the fair, with the powerful gentle giants pulling weights of up to 3,800 lbs.
In addition to all the beautiful horses and livestock that were shown, many old-fashioned crafts such as weaving, woodworking and fiber spinning on traditional wooden spinning wheels were popular exhibits. Fair-goers could also appreciate entries of sewing, quilting, embroidery and candlewicking, as well as pottery, metal, stained glass, quilling and photography. Beautiful garden vegetables and home canned and baked goods were also on display.
It was a wonderful weekend showcasing the hard work and diligence Sullivan County folks of all ages, as well as some good old-fashioned fun and family entertainment.
by Judy Van Put
Leave A Comment