FARMINGTON – Crowds at the Farmington Fair this year were smaller than in previous years, according to Franklin County Agricultural Society secretary Neal Yeaton.
Harness-racing receipts fell almost $8,200 below last year’s, according to David Dunn, director of racing at the fair. Receipts this year just passed $237,000.
Agricultural Society Treasurer Jack Stansfield agreed that numbers were down this year. Though it is difficult to gauge exactly how many people attend the fair each year with family tickets that permit multiple visits, Stansfield estimated that 30,000 to 35,000 people attended last year. He said that was likely a lower number this year. “Nearer to 30 than 35,” he said.
All three men attributed reduced attendance to gas prices and the economy.
And the weather hurt a bit too. Although it didn’t really rain last Sunday, opening day, it did rain in surrounding towns, discouraging people from coming, Dunn said.
Stansfield suspects other fairs’ attendance has been down too.
There were no major incidents and the crowds had good attitudes this year, Yeaton said.
Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt Saturday when a racehorse escaped from its paddock, knocking a driver off a moving sulky on the track.
Three-year-old Lindons Huey was apparently spooked and took off running in the opposite direction of Papa O, who was being warmed up on the track at around 1 p.m. When Lindons Huey ran into Papa O, the driver fell off the sulky and Papa O, now also spooked, continued running around the track several times before slowing down enough to allow handlers to catch him. Meanwhile, Lindons Huey ran off the track and stopped in the south parking lot.
The horse was easy to find, but there are always lost children.
“We have a lot of kids whose parents are lost,” Stansfield said with an ironic smile.
As for participants, he said, the farming community is shrinking and more farms go out of business each year. Never a farmer himself, Stansfield figures younger people don’t want to work seven days a week, 18 hours a day.
“Can’t say I blame them,” he said.
Yeaton said he and other board members are paid a small stipend for their work on the fair but they usually end up spending more than they make.
“But you do it because you love it,” he said. “I want to keep the agricultural side going so people know what it’s all about.”
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