Pittsfield To Celebrate 1st Aggie Fair's 200th Anniversary
 |
The state Agricultural Fairs Association is putting on an agricultural fair in Park Square — the same location of the nation's first modern agricultural fair 200 years ago. The 4 p.m. event features live demonstrations, historical interpretations, animals and exhibits depicting the early agricultural roots of fairs.
Park Square hosted the first agricultural fair in 1811, three years after the idea came to Elkanah Watson, who had exhibited two Merino sheep beneath an elm tree in the square in 1807 and drawn a large crowd. From that experience, he began to organize the fair and the Berkshire Agricultural Society in an attempt to promote better agricultural practices. The first fair, in September 1811, was mostly an animal exhibit with prizes going to best oxen, cattle, swine and sheep.
Watson continued to organize agricultural societies and fairs and by 1819 most counties in New England had organized societies and by the 1900s almost every state had at least one fair or exhibition.
On Friday, Donna Chandler will bring back the nostalgia by showing off her own Merino ewe and ram from Hancock Shaker Village under the elm tree. Samantha, Olivia and Taylor Mason of Worthington will be exhibiting two pair of oxen. The Judd family of Goshen will display antique tractors, which will be exhibited side by side with modern tractors from Pittsfield Lawn and Garden. Bill Roberts of Northampton will supply a horse and carriage.
The fair will kick off with Dennis Picard, director of the Storrowton Village Museum in West Springfield, home of the Big E, portraying Watson and delivering a condensed version of the speech he gave on founding the Berkshire Agricultural Society. There will also be comments from Mayor James Ruberto, state Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield, and state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox.
Following the fair, there will be a reception at the Crowne Plaza that will feature archives from different fairs on display.
