Westfield Fair President Shelia Phelon (center left) and Secretary Maureen Freniere (center right) joined hosts Dennis Hackett and Tyler Garnet on the latest episode of “So That Reminds Me.”
Reminder Publishing photo by Chris Maza
With fair season in full swing, the hosts of “So That Reminds Me” sat down with representatives from the Three County Fair and the Westfield Fair.
This year’s Westfield Fair runs from Aug. 15-17 and Tyler Garnet and I spoke with Westfield Fair President Shelia Phelon and Secretary Maureen Freniere about the fair and what is planned for this year.
Phelon explained that the fair is a family affair and five generations of her family, including Freniere, who is her daughter, and her grandchildren are involved. She also talked about how the fair has evolved since its inception nearly 100 years ago.
“This is the 97th year of the Westfield Fair. It started on the green in the center of Westfield and progressively moved out to Russellville Road, where it is located now. It started with a sheep show I believe, and then they had some cattle that came and showed, and we still carry on those traditions,” Phelon said.
Freniere explained that three of the pillars of the fair are agriculture, family and community, and when people get there, it’s all about having fun. She said that while there is an admission fee, everything inside the gates is free.
“We have a lot of events that we try to focus or get sponsored by a lot of local community partners, things like our free bike raffle, any of our track events — which we would consider our major events that bring in the customers — are our truck pulls, our rodeo … once you get in the gate, you can attend them for free,” Freniere said.
Phelon added that between 5,000 and 7,000 people attend each year. Freniere also discussed some of the new things at the fair this year.
“One of the big things we tried to switch up a little bit this year was our bands. We have four new bands — basically we start Friday night, they run for a few hours Friday night, all day Saturday on and off the stage, and Sunday during the day,” Freniere said.
Freniere added that there will also be changes to the rodeo this year.
“We tried to do some things that people could participate in, so we have a calf scramble, they’re going to do a little more about getting the audience involved, with things like maybe a cowboy costume contest, so stuff like that that kids and adults can have fun with,” she said.
Freniere also explained what a calf scramble is.
“They either try to pull a tag off the calf — by a tag I mean like a piece of ribbon that’s taped on them, or they can try to catch them. Obviously, we all come from an agricultural background for a lot of us that are at the fair, so for us to go out there and throw a halter on them, it doesn’t sound that difficult, but it really is,” Freniere said. “It’s just fun to watch.”
The truck pullers will also be expanding their classes for the fair.
Freniere also talked about the importance of having community partners for the fair.
“Our bands are sponsored by Westfield Bank. Westfield Bank does a lot in our community already, so we actually got a lot of interest from other people that attend a lot of things like PumpkinFest or the fireworks, so we’ve had a lot of people reach out over the last few years and getting partners like a sponsor like that gets us a lot of community sponsors,” she said.
Freniere said that in addition to the admission cost, food will also be available for purchase. Tickets are $15, while seniors and military tickets are $13, and children under 12 get in for free with an accompanying adult.
Both Freniere and Phelon said their favorite part about the fair is seeing the people that come every year.
“I love seeing the people coming year after year … it’s a unique group of people that follow them around from fair to fair, and I just love seeing them every year,” Phelon said.
Freniere added, “That’s what keeps us coming back every year.”
For more information about the Westfield Fair, head to thewestfieldfair.com.
For this episode’s second interview, Chris Maza sat down with Three County Fair Executive Director Taylor Haas. This year’s fair runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.
Haas said that this year is the 208th year of the fair.
“This is the 208th year of the Three County Fair, and believe it or not, it is the longest continuously running fair in the country, right here in everyone’s backyard,” she said.
Haas also talked about some of the DNA of the fair and how it has evolved over the years.
“The fair was started in the spirit of agriculture, going back 200 years, the fair was very much a celebration of harvest for farmers and those involved with livestock and agriculture in our area,” Haas said. “Some of those timeless traditions that come with the fair, showcasing vegetables and fruits, and quilting, and livestock, these are really rooted in the tradition and the spirit of what a fair is.”
One of the big attractions at the fair each year is the school bus demolition derby.
“We have our school bus demolition derbies — that’s always a popular crowd favorite at the fair — we’re actually adding an additional night of school bus demolition derbies on Sunday, so we’ll have them three days of the fair,” she said.
One of the ways Haas said the community gets involved in the derby is that each year, a school paints the buses.
“We find different schools to come and paint a bus for the school bus demolition derbies, and that really gets the kids involved with the fair and taking ownership of, even if it’s just this one bus of the fair,” she said. “Children get really excited to be a part of it.”
Haas added that fairgoers can expect a food truck festival alongside the fair.
“We have really built out our food truck offerings, I want everyone to feel like they’ve got a food truck festival within the fair. So that there’s more than one reason to come to the fair,” she said.
Other attractions people can expect are a motorcycle wall of death and the Axe Women of Maine to have performances this year.
Also new this year is a blueberry pie eating contest and a mullet competition.
“The first person to eat three blueberry pies will win and this is actually going to benefit the Western Massachusetts Food Bank, so it’s fun, it’s going to be exciting to watch and there’s some real benefit behind it as well,” Haas said.
Haas also noted the importance of community agriculture in the reason and what it means to the fair.
“There is such a community in agriculture in our area. It runs deep, so it’s not just the people showing animals, it’s their friends, their families, their neighbors that come get involved in the fair,” she said.
Haas added that the most important part of the fair is that everyone has fun.
“I really want fairgoers and people in our area to think about this fair as like a celebration. This is the end of the summer, yes, it’s the tradition and the spirit of the fair and agriculture, but there’s so much fun and we’re really looking to grow and expand the fair in different ways that engage different members of the community, and just brings about fun,” Haas said. “It’s really just a celebration of the community.”
For more information about the Three County Fair and its events, or to purchase tickets ahead of time, head to 3countyfair.com. Advance tickets are $13.50 for adults and $10 for seniors, while military veterans can get in for $10 at the gate with a valid ID. Children 11 and younger get in for free while wristbands for grandstand events can be purchased the day of the fair for $8 at the gate.
Other fairs in the area include the Hardwick Community Fair from Aug. 16-17, the Cummington Fair from Aug. 21-24, the Blandford Fair from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, the Franklin County Fair from Sept. 4-7, the Four Town Fair in Somers from Sept. 11-14 and the Belchertown Fair from Sept. 19-21.
To hear the full conversations, head to thereminder.com/our-podcast or search for “So That Reminds Me” on your favorite podcast platform.
