World’s Fair, Tunbridge, Vermont

For the five years we have been living in Vermont we drive around and look at bumper stickers that say, ‘World’s Fair, Tunbridge, Vermont.’ If you live here and have wanted to go to the fair all those years and couldn’t, driving around and seeing all these other people with their bumper stickers made me only want to go more. The fair is a Top Ten Fall must see fall event and finally we got a chance to go last week!

Part of the Union Agricultural Society, the fair is a non-profit and this year celebrated its’ 140th year. There is a lot of connection with the town and the grounds provide a free space for the volunteer fire department to practice and a well to service the town office water supply. With something for all ages, the three day event had much to see and I felt there was a strong push for youth involvement. A lot of young people were active with their 4H Clubs and I saw many youth simply hanging out with their animals in their stalls to keep them company. All proceeds go back to the infrastructure, programs and projects on the grounds.

So let’s go to the fair! Here is a look at what we saw:

Let the fair begin! What is a fair without fair food? You can get lots of that here!

We started out by visiting the antique barn. Imagine back in the day getting your meat from this truck, no air temperature controlled trucks then.

Or how about this peddlers truck?

I liked the wording to this sign because it is so true. This type of cart was the original Wal-Mart. Before Amazon, before the internet, before shopping malls, if someone wanted an item they couldn’t make or grow themselves, chances are pretty good it came from a store like this.

Recently I have been learning how much oxen were used in the early farming days.

What I didn’t know was that oxen can not stand like horses can when they get their feet shod. And if I go a step further, I didn’t realize working oxen got shod at all.

This is one way to get electricity. Now a days a lot of people just flip a switch (and leave it on) without really thinking too much about it. Imagine thinking, geez, I really want to power the saw today so I can cut firewood for winter. Then go and grab two of your horses to get moving on this treadmill to give you power. Wow.

Similarly, imagine sitting at home or work and having cold feet. Do you turn up the thermostat? Nope. You grab some coals and put them in the foot warmer. Such a different time and way of life.

Harness racing was a big part of the fair’s vibe.

And then of course I had to keep going back to the horses to watch a few halter classes. My old equine days served me well and all my guesses for first place were the same as the judges. This beautiful Morgan, Berrie Brook First in Line, with handler Melissa Ellis of Steepway Morgans won grand champion for his beautiful composition, well behaved demeanor and horsemanship displayed. I bet you can easily see why too, what a beautiful horse.

Then by chance we started talking to a very nice man named Neal who asked on behalf of his young neighbor, if we could also take some pictures of her while riding his horse, Bentley. Bentley is also a Morgan, which is Vermont’s state horse, and his color marking was so unique and stunning. We ended up chatting away with Neal for a good half hour and turns out he had already known about us because he recently read my Cattail article!

We kept walking around the fair and this is when things started to get crazy – like this little miniature pony.

No fair is complete without some pot bellied pig action.

We made our way to the livestock barns where we met crazy llama. Crazy llama was actually stressed and making a pitiful, low murmur sound. Her owner was there trying to soothe her and feed her hay, but crazy llama still looked crazy.

The pigs were moving all around and I love looking observing each of their own personalities.

And then the oxen! I forgot how huge they are! This guy was over 2500 pounds and was sleeping like a baby.

But then we moved onto the area of the fair I really wanted to see: produce. I wanted to see giant vegetables and pumpkins!

And I wasn’t disappointed. There were lots of giant pumpkins weighing over 400 pounds. Wow.

A 40 pound zucchini. Jeez-um.

And lastly, they needed to haul this one in on a truck, a whopping 577 pound squash!!! Now that’s what I wanna see at the fair.

One person we were not expecting to see at the Tunbridge Fair was Donald Trump.

But Bernie was there and looking great at usual!

So even with all the noise, the rides, the sausages sizzling, the kids screaming, the ducks quacking, there is still ways to find some quiet moments at the fair as life passes around you. I found this one ox resting with his head out the window. He wasn’t chewing and he wan’t over heating either. He was just quietly hanging out there while all this other stuff was happening around him. I just stood there for ages until Chris came looking for me and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ To which I replied, ‘I’m just watching this ox.’

Because some times, when the world is passing so fast around you, the best thing to do is find a quiet moment. And if that means standing in a barn alley way watching an ox at the World’s Fair in Tunbridge, VT then so be it. We don’t always get to pick what our quiet moments will be. They come to us and it’s our choice whether to recognize them or not. Sometimes our quiet times come to us through an ox. Now that is something I am glad I did not miss.

Thanks World’s Fair. You did not disappoint and we will be back!

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If you go:

Check out the website for info.

I also found some pretty amusing you tube videos if you just do a google search.

No matter which way you drive to get to Tunbridge, enjoy. It was one of our favorite drives in Vermont.