FAIR HOLIDAY
Plenty celebrate Labor Day at annual event
SCHAGHTICOKE, N.Y. » The 199th annual Schaghticoke Fair is in the books, as organizers look ahead to planning the big 200th next summer.
Monday, Labor Day, was the final day of this year’s Schaghticoke Fair, a longtime local tradition for those in Rensselaer County and beyond.
The fair, which ran Wednesday through Monday, included classics like midway rides, carnival games, fried food, live music, tractor pulls, demolition derbies and, of course, a large showcase of agriculture and horticulture.
Fair manager Carly Reyna said Monday based on attendee feedback, she felt really good about the entertainment the fair brought in this year. From the new Cirque Ma’Ceo act under the big top tent, to a full-house rodeo in the grandstands to country music artist Keith Anderson making his Schaghticoke Fair debut - fair-goers seemed happy with the many entertainment options included with admission.
One factor that can make or break a fair is weather, and Mother Nature was pretty cooperative for the 2018 Schaghticoke Fair, aside from a few very hot and humid days. “The weather is always a big part of what we do here,” Reyna said, “We’ve been very lucky.”
Though attendance numbers aren’t finalized
yet, Reyna said that paid attendance was up for this year, partly thanks to good weather conditions. “We’re just really fortunate, blessed, to have not gotten hit with some of the weather that our neighboring fairs have.”
Throughout the week, thousands of attendees made memories on the fairgrounds. “It’s kind of a tradition, we do it every year,” said Rensselaer mom Heather Narzymski, while checking out the horticulture building with her daughter on Monday. The pair were particularly looking forward to seeing the circus later in the day. “It makes you feel like a little kid again,” Narzymski said.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin also spent some time at the fair over the past week. “Congratulations to everyone at the Schaghticoke Fair on another fun, educational, interesting and successful fair. The fair workers once again overcame some real logistical and organizational challenges, and made the 2018 Fair an unforgettable part
of the summer for so many in Rensselaer County and beyond,” he said. “There is no question the Schaghticoke Fair is an outstanding showcase for so many of the things that make Rensselaer County a great place to live and work, including farm and agricultural products, work from crafts people, food and a wide variety of other products and services. The fair puts all these attractions into one package that draws so many year in and year out.”
McLaughlin continued, “Rensselaer County plans to join with the fair to make
the 200th anniversary of the fair a special occasion, and one that recognizes the important and special place the fair holds in our county. It will also be a chance to wish the fair well on another 200 years.”
The fair staff is already planning for the occasion. Some of the recent fair improvements and enhancements have all been in anticipation for the 200th annual Schaghticoke Fair. “Working the kinks out before 200,” Reyna said. “A lot of it is in preparation for the 200th. We didn’t want the trial year to be the 200th, but we want
to 200th to be huge.”
Reyna’s goal for next year’s fair is to bring back former attendees who haven’t visited in some time. “I would like to see people who haven’t been to the fair in a while get back out here,” she said.
“We have really spent the last four or five years trying to challenge the status quo, bringing in new entertainment, bringing in young blood,” Reyna continued. “I want people who haven’t been here to get back in here and realize that it’s not the same old fair. What you loved about it is still here;
what it was lacking we’re trying to bring you.”
Though an artist has not yet been announced, Reyna said that there will be a big concert event on the Thursday of next year’s fair, on a large stage in front of the grandstand.
As the fair prepares for its upcoming anniversary, management is welcoming feedback from patrons, as always, but a little something more too. Longtime attendees or exhibitors who have memorabilia, artifacts or stories from the fair’s 200-year history are encouraged to share it with the fair
to be part of a special presentation in next summer.
“The 200th committee was out and about yesterday interviewing long-term exhibitors, vendors, the local community groups,” Reyna said on Monday. This was for a video display to be featured at next year’s fair.
As the countdown begins to the 2019 Schaghticoke Fair and its bicentennial anniversary, Reyna said. “We want the community to be involved.”