Sandwich Fair tradition never goes out of style
The Sandwich Fair is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. “In conjunction with that, we do have some special things going on,” said Nancy Rex, secretary and fair manager of the Sandwich Fair. “We’re having an opening day parade [on Sept. 5] and ceremony this year.”
It will be a small parade from the street into the fairgrounds, with the high school band and chorus, military personnel and some local dignitaries in attendance, she said. “We’re going to serve free birthday cake to fair-goers in the hospitality tent,” she said.
To commemorate the anniversary an ice cream social will take place at 1:25 p.m. Sept. 6 in the hospitality tent and at 5 p.m. on Sept. 7, there will be an old-fashioned baseball game featuring the Somonauk Blue Stockings versus the Sandwich Millers.
“In the early days of the fair, local baseball teams like that used to have games out at the fair as a regular event,” Rex said. “As time went on, that went by the wayside. But we’ve got some of those old-times baseball teams in our area now … so they’re going to recreate that old-fashioned baseball atmosphere.”
There will be a balloon launch after the baseball game.
A talent show will also celebrate the anniversary, from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 8.
“As far as entertainment that comes with your fair admission, we’ve got a couple new things this year,” Rex said. “We’ve got the Great American Duck Race. It’s a vendor set up in the Agriculture tent, and it features live ducks going from one end to the other. People of all ages have a real good time picking out which duck is going to win.”
Also new is the Strolling Pipers Band, which includes two bagpipers and a drumming. That strolling entertainment is in addition to previous troupes such as the Banjo Buddies Dixieland Trio and Mariachi America. Other roving entertainers include stiltwalker Carrie McQueen, Balster Magic Productions, the Dream Camper Show and Buttons the Clown.
Along with the strolling entertainment, there will be free entertainment on the Ag Land Stage, where you’ll find local bands and musicians like Max Armstrong and the Round House Band, Sherri Farley with her hammered dulcimer, Ashley Lewis and Ashton Gap, P.K. and the Groove, The Wooden Rockers, the Fret Broth- ers and Back Country Roads.
The Home Arts Building stage also features free entertainment, Rex said, including most of the culinary competitions, along with some musical acts.
Additionally, there will be all kinds of commercial vendors, Rex said, as well as a large carnival and a livestock competition running daily.
“In all of our buildings we’ll have judging of people’s entries that they’ve put in, anywhere from pies and cakes to photographs to antiques,” she said. “We’ve got those competitions early in the fair so by the time most of the public comes to the fair they will be able to wander around and see what took first prize.”
Grandstand entertainment features crowd-pleasers like the tractor pulls and demolition derbies, as well as a couple of surprises.
On Sept. 5, the fair presents Tonny Petersen’s Hell Drivers and Paul Shafer’s Monster Truck Demonstration. This high-octane auto show includes high-speed reverse spins, deliberate crashes and tricky two-wheel driving.
Country music star Justin Moore takes the grandstand stage at 8 p.m. Sept. 7.
“We worked very hard on trying to maintain our traditions, add some new things and make our 125th fair a big celebration,” she said. “We always say there should be something for almost everyone to enjoy at the Sandwich Fair.
“As it’s grown over the years, we have people whose grandparents were involved as exhibitors or fairgoers, and they have passed that tradition onto their grandchildren. It’s quite a tradition in our area.”