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Weather Was Fair,
"We were really lucky," said the president of the Tunbridge World's Fair yesterday. Euclid Farnham was talking about the rainstorm that didn't show up—not much, anyway—at this year's Fair, which was last week Thursday through Sunday. "I don't have much faith in weather predictions," he confided. "Early in the week they were predicting beautiful weather all the way through the fair, then later in the week they were predicting horrible weather all the way. We didn't get either." What the Fair received was a hard rain Thursday morning, another hard rain about 11 p.m. Saturday, and mostly nice weather the rest of the time. The combination added up to an estimated 46,000 to 47,000 paying guests during the four days. That's not a record, but it's still above average the Fair president said. He admitted he was happy about the 11 p.m. rain on Saturday. "I loved it," he said. "It encouraged people to go home." The Fair has a tradition of staying open until the people leave, and this allowed weary organizers to shut down the fair at a reasonable hour. Thursday's early rains caused the cancellation of a few school trips, Farnham said, but about 1800 of the scheduled 2000 students came, and they all had a good time, he said. The highlight of this year's fair was definitely the new building for industrial displays, according to Farnham. "It worked better than our expectations. It is clean, bright, and the lighting is so superior. "The vendors were very, very pleased." The only glitch was a Thursday fire in a transformer at the building, which was quickly dealt with. "CVPS needs to be commended for an unbelievably quick response" to get electricity flowing again, he said. The new building allowed another important change. The old industrial building on antique hill could be used to display the Fair's enviable display of old wagons, carts, and carriages. "It is a godsend," Farnham said. Formerly, all the carriages were kept in storage and had to be moved outside for display during the fair. "Every year we were breaking things," he noted. Having the separate barn for the carriages means that they can be displayed at other events on the Fairgrounds, he noted—including the Vermont History Expo, which the Fair has been asked to host again in 2006. Lucky Problem This year was officially the year of the Floral Hall, and Farnham admits he has a problem there. "We have a great problem," he said. There are too many exhibits. "A lot of fairs would like to have this problem." Both in the Floral Hall and in the agricultural barns, space is at a premium as more and more people want to exhibit at the Tunbridge Fair, he said. "Our barns are completely full. We could have used 15 more stalls for show horses." How Did I Do It? Farnham contrasted the smooth running of the fair this year with the way it was 30 years ago—when he was starting in as president. "I don't know how I did it," he said. That was a time when the Tunbridge fair had a reputation—often deserved–for rowdiness, often filling the Chelsea Jail Friday night, and again with a new crew on Saturday. In today's fair, he said, "the problems are so minimal, just locked cars and lost children, like you'd get anywhere." Sidebar The Future—Animals Under Glass? Although the Tunbridge World's Fair is running exceptionally smoothly these days, there is one trend that worries its president, Euclid Farnham. That is a national trend for more requirements and regulations when it comes to mixing animals and people. Already, he said, there's a requirement to have hand-washing facilities in each barn. And now, he said, he's been hearing worries about visitors touching the animals. "We're hearing that urban kids expecially may come down with something if they have touched live farm animals, whereas farm kids are immune," he explained. "How far are they going to go with this," he asked. "Are we going to have to put the animals behind glass?" |
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