Cape Cod - Index

Cape Cod - travel_guide_2008 - Index

■ cape & islands fairs
Top: Mary and Nicole Berio-Rowlands hold newly hatched chicks.
Bottom: Malori Carr participates in the livestock exhibit.
20
Cape Cod Travel Guide Annual 2008
for ways to teach people about livestock,” Sidebottom says. “It’s a
challenge to try and show folks why this is important–what it
means to them on a day-to-day basis. Each year I look for ways to
make our shows bigger and to bring in animals that you
normally don’t see in your everyday life.”
Sidebottom is passionate about making the livestock
exhibits as accessible as possible. If he sees a parent struggling
with a stroller or a child in a wheelchair, he’ll swoop down and
take that child in his arms for an up-close and personal trip to
the pig pens or horse barns. “We try to make it so everyone has
a great experience,” Sidebottom says. “It makes you feel good to
see parents bringing their kids back year after year.
FOCUS ON FAMILY
Spend enough time with fair volunteers and you begin to
hear recurring phrases–“a special event,” “familyfriendly,”
“a tight-knit group.” Richard Austin is
president of the Barnstable County Agricultural Society Inc.,
the non-profit agency that stages the fair and sponsors several
other events throughout the year like the annual Harvest
Festival, the Cape Cod and South Shore Kennel Club dog show
and the All Wheels Car Show.
Like many volunteers, Rick is high-energy. Although he
owns his own insurance agency, he still manages to find time to
donate hundreds of hours to the fair.
The fair has always been part of his life. “My mother was a
professional quilter, and so we would go every year,” he says.
He got more involved about 15 years ago when a freak wind
and rain storm knocked down the fair’s tents on opening day.
“They needed as much help as they could get, so I started
pitching in.”
Asked to describe the fair’s appeal, he uses words like
“family,” “safe,” “local” and “layout.”