Donations collected during previous years’ Three County Fair Food Drives.
Photo credit: Three County Fair
NORTHAMPTON — The annual Three Country Fair Food Drive will return once again on Saturday, April 19, outside its main office at 54 Fair St. and each vehicle that comes through to donate will be provided a pair of complementary tickets to this year’s fair.
The Three County Fair has collected over 2,000 pounds in food donations each year to contribute to local food banks. The Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden Agricultural Society is the nonprofit organization that manages the Three County Fair and fairgrounds.
“A food drive is a reminder that kindness is powerful, generosity is contagious and no act of giving is too small to make a difference. The Three County Fair recognizes that our food drive is more about just giving a meal — it’s about strengthening and nourishing our community,” said Taylor Haas, executive director of the Three County Fair. “This food drive is now an annual community tradition, much like our fair.”
The fair is seeking non-perishable, non-expired foods such as canned fruit, soup, tuna and vegetables, plus cereal, pasta, sauce and peanut butter for area food pantries who have partnered with the fair. Partnering pantries include the Northampton Survival Center, the Easthampton Community Center, the Helping Hands Cupboard Food Pantry at BUCC in Belchertown and the Westhampton Food Pantry located at the Westhampton Congregational United Church of Christ.
Survival Center Development Director Danielle Brown said the great thing about food drives is they tend to contribute a lot of variety to the pantry.
“We’re giving out more than 14,000 pounds of food every week. That’s all kinds of nutritious groceries to our clients and while we are able to reliably source lots of staple goods, things like soup and pasta, tuna and canned vegetables,” Brown explained. “Things that might make cooking at home a little more fun, more flavorful. So we’re always looking for things like cooking oil, spices, coffee and tea, condiments, stuff that just makes food better, so that’s a big help in a food drive.”
The food collected is utilized to help offset the center’s food budget. Brown said they provide well over $1 million worth of food each year with about a $275,000 budget.
“Because of our relationship with local agencies, we’re able to leverage that amount to provide well over $1 million of food in the end so food drives definitely help us do that,” Brown said.
Vehicles can donate at least 10 items to the food drive in exchange for a pair of complementary tickets to the 2025 Three Country Fair set this year to run from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1. Donations can be dropped off at the fair’s main office at 54 Fair St. in Northampton between the hours of 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 19.
The fair requests that donations be compiled in disposable bags or boxes for volunteers to easily accept them from vehicles. There is a limit of one pair of tickets per vehicle.
Started in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Haas said Director Jerry Devine felt there was a need to step up for the community at that time.
“So, we put on a food drive in hopes of collecting a lot of food and we were actually able to collect over 2,000 pounds of food that year,” Haas said.
Haas told Reminder Publishing the food drive has seen growth and continued success since its iteration in 2020 and that the community at-large in Northampton and Hampshire County show their support for one another based on the turnout for the drive.
“I think the spirit of a fairground is really founded in community. Fairs are built on agriculture, and the spirit of farming goes back generations of people helping each other in tough times. I think that shines through with our food drive,” Haas said.
Located in Northampton and incorporated in 1818, the Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden County Agricultural Society promotes agriculture, agricultural education, agricultural science and sustainability for the region through exhibitions, displays, competitions and demonstrations and annually operates the Three County Fair.
The fair has been recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture as the oldest ongoing fair in continuous operations in the U.S., with the first Three County Fair taking place on Oct. 14 and 15, 1818, and every year since without interruption.
For more information on this year’s upcoming food drive and fair visit 3countyfair.com.
“The more of our community that we can get to our fair and feel involved in our fair — I think the fairgrounds being located really in the heart of Northampton and the valley area here really synergizes that fact that we want our fair to be community and to feel like a home for everyone,” Haas said.
