{"id":62929,"date":"2015-07-14T16:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=62929"},"modified":"2015-07-13T19:03:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T23:03:04","slug":"a-blue-ribbon-country-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=62929","title":{"rendered":"A Blue Ribbon Country Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Musings of A Simple Country Man<\/p>\n

\"Hobie<\/a>
Hobie Morris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Hobie Morris<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Brookfield, NY \u2013 July 13, 2014) A popular, inherited from England, feature of American rural life for over 200\u00a0 years has been the county fair; a tradition that flourished especially in the early years of the Republic, when America\u2019s population was primarily rural.\u00a0 Fairs usually occurred at this time, following the harvest when the late autumn haze was on the hills.<\/p>\n

For 166 years, or since Martin Van Buren\u2019s presidency, and a decade before the Civil War, a county fair has been held in the town of Brookfield.\u00a0 A small rural community surrounded by high forested hills nestled in the remote southeast corner of Madison County in the heart of beautiful Central New York.\u00a0 Only one or two times was the fair canceled. Once during World War I, due to the threat of a highly contagious and deadly flu that was sweeping across America and the world.<\/p>\n

In the fair\u2019s early years it was held in several different locations around the village, eventually finding its present permanent home.\u00a0 On one occasion, in 1862, in the early years of the Civil War, the fair was held on a large grassy field in North Brookfield.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, immediately after the Civil War there were two well attended and patronized fairs in tiny Brookfield, both being held on the same day within sight and sound of each other.\u00a0 Apparently the fairs were the result of strong political and other differences between local citizens.\u00a0 After half-dozen years or so the upstart fair folded up its tent for good.<\/p>\n

The month when the fair was held also varied.\u00a0 While this year\u2019s edition was held in early July, much more frequently it was held in September, usually around Labor Day.\u00a0 Sometimes, for unknown reasons, the fair was scheduled in the unpredictable month of October.\u00a0 One year a not that uncommon early snow storm and cold blustery wind had soggy tents and entries blowing and scattered all over the countryside.<\/p>\n

The fair has prospered as well as struggled over the years.\u00a0 Its original agricultural emphasis has been in serious and noticeable decline for many years.\u00a0 Small family farms were once the backbone of these county and local fairs.\u00a0 Far reaching changes in the agricultural sector, rural population and serious competition from other forms of entertainment combined to make changes in county fairs inevitable.<\/p>\n

Well within the memory of many local seniors are many vivid and happy recollections of fair time.\u00a0 It was the place to go as the first hint of fall permeated the air and the green leaves and crop foliage began to dry and dull in anticipation of the season ahead.\u00a0 Area families would spend many hours carefully planning entries listed in the thick premium book.\u00a0 Prize money often greatly helped families make it through the winter months looming ahead.<\/p>\n

Labor Day was often the single largest fair day.\u00a0 A crowd of 15 to 20,000 people or more was not unheard of.\u00a0 On one such Labor Day, during World War II, a very young tow-headed boy who grew up to write this article, got separated from his parents.\u00a0 Eventually a couple of passing ladies heard crying in the back of his parents\u2019 auto parked, along with hundreds of others, near the school building.\u00a0 I happily admitted I was the boy being sought.\u00a0 It should be pointed out that in the early days fair attendees often remained overnight in town.\u00a0 In fact, fair week was unquestionably the single largest source of yearly income.\u00a0 Liquid refreshments when Brookfield was a \u201cwet\u201d community were all liberally available at fair time.<\/p>\n

Probably the greatest 19th century fair occurred in 1856, when the Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass came to Brookfield to speak during the fair.\u00a0 It was later reported that 10 to 12,000 people came to hear him.\u00a0 A monster crowd that almost overwhelmed the village of Brookfield\u2019s several hundred residents.\u00a0 It was reported that horses, wagons, carriages were tied to every possible post, tree, buildings in the village and along the roads coming in.\u00a0 The house that Douglass stayed in still stands adjacent to the vacant area where the fair was held that year.<\/p>\n

While today\u2019s country fair can\u2019t replicate its ancestor\u2019s popularity and emphasis, it can, with hard working leaders thinking creatively, continue an American tradition that needs to be preserved\u00a0 to remind us of our connection with the earth and for a few days at least with each other on a personal shoulder to shoulder basis.<\/p>\n

Again, these are only the random thoughts of a simple country man and his beautiful wife Lois, who a few years ago was the Madison County women\u2019s hand milking\u00a0 champion, with a blue ribbon to prove it.\u00a0 And, yes, it was a real cow, a black and white Holstein.<\/p>\n

Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Musings of A Simple Country Man By Hobie Morris (Brookfield, NY \u2013 July 13, 2014) A popular, inherited from England, feature of American rural life for over 200\u00a0 years has been the county fair; a tradition that flourished especially in the early years of the Republic, when America\u2019s population was primarily rural.\u00a0 Fairs usually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}