Midway and munchies and music at Isle of Wight County Fair

Frank Roberts

WINDSOR 

Today’s county fair is full of a midway, food vendors galore, special performances, singing stars, games and stages offering continuous entertainment.

Yet, it was a different story back in the 1940s when the Isle of Wight County Fair was on the grounds of Windsor High School.

“The fair then was a day for schools in the county,” said 86-year-old Katharine Edwards. “I was involved in it for four years. Mornings were devoted to choirs, and boys and girls giving recitations.”

“It was mainly a school competition,” according to her son, David Sawyer, who is the chairman of this year’s Isle of Wight County Fair. It was a competition involving the four schools in Isle of Wight County – Windsor, Smithfield, Carrsville and Isle of Wight.

“We did a lot of competitions,” Edwards said. “There were essays and posters. The winners got ribbons.

“I did a recitation. I was supposed to be an Italian immigrant who just landed at Ellis Island with a baby. I got a gold medal for it. My father’s sister married an Italian, and that’s where I developed an accent.”

A major event was the contributions of home demonstration groups from those schools. Things would then get more physical in the afternoons.

“We had track meets, and the boys displayed their livestock.”

These days, food vendors offer funnel cakes, Polish and Italian sausages, burgers, steak sandwiches and some forms of exotica.

Yesterday?

“We had hot dogs, and I think there were some baked goods,” Edwards said.

“There were no rides. That was way over our heads,” she added. But, there was a thrill ride – of sorts.

“It was on the second floor and it was only for the little kids,” she said.

“It was a fire escape, built like a tube,” said  Sawyer .

“The smaller kids would go up and slide down. It was like sliding in a tube,” his mother remembered.

Today, of course, Ferris wheels and small roller coasters fill the fairs.

And, there are the games, which range from $1 to $5 to play and include a combination of skill and joy that will net you a prize.

There were games then, too,  that required physical skill.

“It was an all-day competition,” said  Edwards, who was quite satisfied to call it quits before county fairs resembled miniature amusement parks. “I never went to the bigger fairs. The war came on soon after I graduated in 1939.”

While today’s fairs run over a three- to four-day period, the fairs in which she participated were one-day affairs.

“We spent the whole year getting ready for it,” she said.

 While no one seems quite sure about the fair’s history, a press release from the fair committee says that it was re-established after a 54-year lapse. In 1994, the first Isle of Wight County Fair since 1941 was held.

 “In 2004, the fair was moved to the newly opened fairgrounds at Heritage Park,” the release said.

Over the years there have been committees doing their best to make sure the fairgoers get their money’s worth, and then some. The entertainment, the rides, the variety of food – the choice is large and, hopefully, so is the turnout.

“Everybody turned out for our fairs,”  Edwards said. “I was involved in them for years. It was a big deal.”

Frank Roberts, FRoberts73@yahoo.com