Fair Decision

For much of the 20th century, country fairs were the Super Bowls of their communities. Fair buildings were temples, and the area rock stars were the farmers who raised the finest Ayrshire and Jersey heifers.

At the 1929 iteration of the Essex County Fair, newspapers marveled at the “tent city” that blanketed Westport as country folk left their hills and dales to move in for the week. The fastest trotters and pacers arrived from throughout New England to compete on the fairground oval in front of a packed grandstand that still exists. National comedy acts