The historic grandstands at Roaring Brook Park have only a short time to wait before they are filled with crowds at the 2010 Orleans County Fair. Harness racing fans will be pleased to learn that more horses are slated to enter this year's races than in recent years and that the half-mile track has been resurfaced. Photo by Joseph Gresser
BARTON — If you go by what will be missing at this year’s Orleans County Fair — a star country singer — it’s possible to look forward to a disappointing experience. But you’d have to overlook an awful lot of improvements slated to premier at Roaring Brook Park between August 18 and 22 to stay unhappy.
According to fair directors Harvey Cleveland and Kim Brooks horses, cows and farmers will have a better time this year, and visitors to the one-hundred-and-forty-third edition of the fair will be the beneficiaries.
The improvements, including renovation and cleaning of fair buildings, came about through the generosity of many donors and the work of many volunteers, Mr. Cleveland and Ms. Brooks said.
Ms. Brooks, who runs the harness racing program, was most enthusiastic about the new surface on the race track, similar to that on major tracks like Yonkers Raceway and the Meadowlands. The track will be safer for horses and drivers, and will not end up muddy or dusty regardless of the weather.
Mr. Cleveland said the half-mile track has a layer of staymat covered with an inch of artificial sand. He said the installation of the track was supervised by Ed Ryan of Yonkers Raceway in New York. Rene Patenaude of S&R Grading did the grading work with material donated by Calkins Sand and Gravel, Mr. Cleveland said.
Mr. Patenaude and his grader will be around during the fair to pull back the track coating during the tractor pull and the demolition derby, Mr. Cleveland said. It will be put back in place when the trotters and pacers run, he added.
Run they will, with $32,000 in purses. A featured race billed as the International Pace and Trot will feature such harness racing luminaries as Herve Filion, the winningest driver in harness racing history; Stephane Bouchard, who took the championship at Yonkers Raceway seven times; current Yonkers’ star Jason Bartlett; Jordan Stratton, winner of the 2009 Rising Star Award; and Todd Whitney, Amateur Driver of the Year.
The horses will be put through their paces on Thursday at noon and Friday at 1 p.m.
For those who don’t live in the fast lane, the dairy barns are likely to be fuller than they have been in years, Mr. Cleveland said. Part of the reason is the fair associations’ decision to pay farmers the price they would get at the farm for milk produced at the fair, he said.
Since the major co-ops decided not to pick up milk from the fair, farmers have received a lower price for their milk. That made it hard for people to justify bringing the top five producers, Mr. Cleveland said.
A new milking system, donated by Bou-matic, has been installed in the fair’s parlor, and each cow’s production will be tracked by computer, Mr. Cleveland said.
But the big news is what will happen with the milk. Instead of selling to local farmers to feed their hogs, fair directors used $75,000 in donations collected from major agricultural corporations to build a trailer that will contain a specially-built pasteurizing unit from the Netherlands, he said.
Fair visitors will be able to watch the pasteurization process through a transparent wall in the trailer, and see the pasteurized milk made into curd cheese, a one-day process, Mr. Cleveland said.
Mr. Cleveland said the cheese will be sold in small packets to visitors. Some vendors may buy larger amounts of the cheese to make poutin, he said.
He said the trailer will be made available to other fairs in the state and may make an appearance at the Eastern States Exposition. Mr. Cleveland said there is room in the trailer for an ice cream maker, and he hopes next year’s fair will boast freshly made ice cream.
As everyone knows, Mr. Cleveland’s passion is tractor pulls, and he isn’t holding back on promoting the sport. This year, in addition to the traditional farm stock tractors, there will be pulls featuring hot farm tractors (too hot to farm, Mr. Cleveland said) and exotic rigs from the New York Tractor Pull Association featuring as many as three engines. The last are too powerful to be held back by something as puny as the L’il Humiliator, Mr. Cleveland said. A special traction sled meeting national standards will be brought in from Missouri.
Even Floral Hall is due for an update. Under the supervision of Laurie Seadale of Parson’s Corner, the building has been thoroughly cleaned, painted and redecorated.
A trio of new competitions will help reinvigorate the space, Ms. Brooks said. A scarecrow competition will judge entries on which is funniest, most traditional, most unusual and most likely to scare a crow.
Another contest will pit container gardeners against each other, while a third calls for photographs. The winners of that competition may one day be featured in a fair calendar, Ms. Brooks said.
The fair directors haven’t neglected their thirsty guests. The beer tent will be located right behind the stage. It will feature performances by area bands and a free mechanical bull ride.
On Wednesday night the beer taps will be shut off to make room for younger fair visitors, who can listen to music supplied by Wound for Sound and enjoy a burnout competition sponsored by Sumner Tire.
“Run what you brung,” Ms. Brooks said, as she described the event. Each ride will try to burn out on a special plate, and winners will be judged on the amount of smoke generated by their tires.
The rest of the fair traditions will be honored, Ms. Brooks promised. There will be horse, pony and ox pulls. Various competitions will test contestants’ horsemanship.
Cattle will be judged, skillets tossed and cars will be demolished in the grand finale of the Demo Derby.
Ms. Brooks acknowledged that some might be disappointed by the lack of a country music event, but said that the fair has a responsibility to be financially prudent and just couldn’t afford it this year. That could change in the future, she said.
She said the fair directors are now trying to take care of the buildings at Roaring Brook Park and to take what steps are necessary to make sure the Orleans County Fair is still a big deal a hundred years from now.
