Cape Cod - Index

Cape Cod - travel_guide_2008 - Index

fancy, says fair historian Carol Sisson, just mostly livestock and
handicraft exhibits.
But the fair caught on. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the
fair had become one of the most popular events on the Cape.
Horse racing, vaudeville acts, lots of fresh produce and pies were
all the rage.
Sisson says the fairs of 1899 and 1920 were two of the most
successful. The 1899 fair featured a new-fangled ride called a
merry-go-round. That, along with vendors and sideshow
barkers, drew 12,000 people. About 1,200 exhibitors packed
exhibitors’ stalls. Horse races attracted $800 purses–a huge
amount for its time. The fair also organized an event called the
Barnstable County Championship for a sport called baseball,
which drew huge crowds.
Records suggest the 1920 fair was the most financially
successful, Sisson says. The society built a $2,500 poultry
building and spent $1,500 to spruce things up. Everything
seemed new and modern. And because every Cape town had its
own Grange chapter, no fair in the state could match
Barnstable’s agricultural exhibits.
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Cape Cod Travel Guide Annual 2008
The midway attracts visitors looking for a thrill.
But after 1920, interest in the fair gradually declined. In
1931, the Barnstable County Agricultural Society declared
that summer’s fair–the 87th–would be its last. It wasn’t until
1954, when a committee of citizens interested in reestablishing
the fair met. They formed a corporation,
decided to move the fair to Marstons Mills and reopened for
three days in mid-August. The fair was reborn.
Sisson is curator of a small historical museum on the
fairgrounds. “Our [Cape] history is so important,” she says.
“We need to do everything we can to conserve our
history–there are so few of us left that go back that far.”
Crammed with old washing tubs, cranberry harvesting
equipment, antique tools and farm implements, the museum
is open during the run of the fair. Sisson delights as parents
bring their children through the displays.
“People can touch things–that’s what we encourage,” she
says. “Some of these parents had trouble getting their kids
out of the building.”
Society President Richard Austin remembers watching a
group of kids examining a flat, board-like object in the
museum. They clearly didn’t know what it was. “It was a
checker board,” Austin says. “Those kids had never seen a
checker board! Imagine that!”
ALWAYS UPGRADING
Yet for all the talk about how the fair harks back to a
simpler time, fair officials know they must keep innovating
and changing to remain viable. “You have to keep
upgrading, keep getting better,” says Doris Weeks, retired
general manager of 20 years. “You can’t stand still–and that’s
the challenge. That’s what makes it fun. You always have to
remember that you’re serving the public. Without the public,
you don’t have a fair.”
General Manager Wendy Brown is new to the job. But
she acts like an old pro, darting around the grounds on a golf