FARMINGTON — The Farmington Historical Society (FHS) held what members deemed their “second COVID meeting” on Monday, September 28, at the Agricultural Museum located on the Farmington’s fairgrounds. They were presented information on farm equipment ranging from carriages to tractors.

FHS members were happy just to be on the fairgrounds after the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the Farmington Fair, which typically runs from the third weekend through the fourth week in September.

“I’m in the Grange, and in the exhibition hall we run this really funky, little sandwich and chowder and pie stand which we’ve done for, you know, since the beginning of time,” FHS President Marion Scharoun said about her involvement with the fair. “So I’m here all week from Saturday through Sunday. It was really strange not to have the fair. It’s a huge thing.” 

2020 would have marked the 180th year of the fair which has only been canceled one other time back in 1940 during World War II. Due to this year’s fair cancelation, FHS may be the only group to tour the Agricultural museum since it is open exclusively during the fair.

“Personally, I’d like to see the museum available to school kids once the virus is over,” Museum Volunteer Jeff O’Donnell said while demonstrating how to operate a cedar shingle mill from 1884.  

The Agricultural Museum opened in 2003 after a group of volunteers erected a barn structure to house donated items that showcase rural life in Farmington across the 19th and 20th centuries. Donations primarily result from the fair during which people gain exposure to the museum. The volunteer staff offers to make a placard to donors or their family members when they donate items.

“It’s become a place where not only people who have an agricultural background can come in and enjoy seeing equipment they may have used in their youth, but others can come in and see something that they’re emotionally connected to that was donated by family members,” O’Donnell said. 

O’Donnell, who worked at the Maine Wood Turning Mill in New Vineyard for 15 years, has a working knowledge of the majority of the donated items on display including two of the museum’s prized items, a 1951 John Deere tractor and a 1944 Case tractor with a hand clutch.

“I take them out and run them around the fair two or three times before I set them back, and then I put in an item called fuel stabilizer,” O’Donnell explained his maintenance on the tractors to FHS. “And then, I put in an item that’s called a lead substitute into the fuel because the way the valve guides are, the valves in those engines are made out of a different kind of metal than a modern engine. It was made to have the lead additives in there.” 

This type of upkeep to the museum’s exhibit items requires a mechanical knowledge that O’Donnell fears is fleeting in Maine due to new technology and the state’s aging population.

“Our biggest problem here is really a lack of young people. I’m 63 and I’m the new guy, and the people that I am replacing are all 85 or 86,” O’Donnell said. “What we need is people in their 30s and 40s that understand equipment, that can do some of this stuff and can perform.” 

O’Donnell compared collecting knowledge of equipment and machinery to seed banks, emphasizing that people may need to return to aspects of older technology at some point, or could develop new technologies from past techniques.

As FHS member Layne Nason toured the museum and admired the period rooms, a kitchen and parlor with items dating back to the early 1900s, he also emphasized the importance of residents paying attention to their local history.

Nason conducts research on the 1844 Abbott School for Boys which once encompassed a portion of the University of Maine at Farmington’s campus. He stressed that preserving the past has much to do with supporting people’s interests.

“I think when it comes to local history, everybody sort of picks a niche,” Nason said. “Some people like learning about the fair, some people like learning about the prominent people who founded the town or the fires that happened in the town. Everybody has their niche and mine just happens to be the Abbott School.”