BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown Fair returns to the Belchertown Town Common from Friday, Sept. 20 to Sunday, Sept. 22.
Belchertown Fair Committee member Shawn Lindholm said, “We have lots of new things happening this year.”
The fair will feature two new activity tents that will replace the social tent and 4-H tent. There will also be five new bands and a new amusement vendor for midway. For the first time, a chainsaw carver will be at the barnyard area on Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. making sculptures.
“We’re excited to see what ride they’re going to bring. Lots of new stuff this year so we’re pretty excited,” Johnson added.
There will also be a few new bands, attractions, event and vendors, according to Johnson.
The fair will begin Friday from 4-10 p.m. On Saturday, the Belchertown High School band concert will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by the parade at 10 a.m. with the fair going until 10 p.m. and on Sunday, the fair will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The full schedule can be viewed at www.btownfair.com/event. It includes multiple activities and shows from pumpkin decorating and carving, a horse and ox pull, giant pumpkin weigh-ins, multiple bands and demonstrations.
Other new things coming to this year’s Belchertown Fair are in the exhibit hall.
The Belchertown Fair Exhibit Hall team has added new opportunities for entries in the annual Exhibit Hall. One of the new additions this year in both the youth and adult categories are “Swifty” friendship bracelets and paint-by-number art.
The full Exhibit Hall booklet can be found online at www.btownfair.com/exhibit-hall.
This year’s theme is “Barn in the USA” and the committee credited Heidi Gutekenst who suggested this year’s theme and Lindholm said a lot of the community loved the idea.
The community fair celebrates the agricultural roots of Belchertown as well as its active growing community and Lindholm talked about how this year’s theme helps with those goals.
She said, “When we are looking for a theme we are also trying to think how people can incorporate this into the parade and floats and marching units and booth spaces because we have a decorative booth contest as well. The barn incorporated the agricultural aspect of Belchertown and just USA, promoting this wonderful country we live in.”
Belchertown Fair offers a wide variety of family-friendly activities throughout the weekend including rides, games, food, vendors, live music, live animals and exhibit halls.
Lindholm said, “We get such awesome feedback throughout the weekend. People are so happy to be at the fair. I think it lifts all of the committee members up. All of the work that we put in throughout the year and then to see so many happy people having a good time and enjoying themselves.
Bringing the community together especially this year there’s so much political division and other stuff going around the world it’s a weekend where none of that comes into play.”
One of the best things about the fair is it is mostly free for everyone to attend.
Lindholm said, “That’s the other thing, this fair is completely free. You can come and besides paying for parking never have to spend a dime if you don’t want to.”
Lindholm added how much there is to do for everyone.
“There really is something for everyone so if you like animals, there’s the pulling ring in the 4-H, if you like music, there’s music the entire weekend, there’s free kid activities throughout the entire weekend, there’s the rides if you’re a thrill seeker, there’s vendors if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, there’s the exhibit hall with so many talented people in town,” she said.
The Belchertown Fair Committee started setting up the event the weekend before the fair, but Lindholm said the committee is always looking for help during the event.
She said, “Even throughout the fair weekend we need people to go around picking up trash, making sure that’s everything is in place, watering plants and exhibit hall sitters to greet the guests as they walk in. There’s always something for people to do. They can report to the gazebo if they would like to volunteer.”
