The newly revived 170th Madison County Fair has come and gone. Although the fair has been held annually for all these years, it has, for a long time been mostly a Brookfield Fair, run solely by residents of that town.
Our county, consisting of 17 towns, is run by a Board of Supervisors, one representing each of these towns. This year, John Becker, the President of the Board of Supervisors, championed the idea of promoting the fair as more of a county-wide event than it had been. Under the creative and untiring leadership of County Historian, Mary Messere, the fair ran from July 9-12.
New events were added, a "Fiber Fair", and a 5K Run, for example. From last years' approximately 4,000 attendees to this years' over 17,000, the fair obviously profited from this burst of energy and enthusiasm.
The Town of Nelson, following the theme of, what makes your town special, participated with a display that included both pictures and text from the history of the town, our significance being in two watersheds and newer views that portrayed some of the present day sights that surround us.
Thanks to the folks in the Erieville-Nelson Heritage Society and in particular to Allan Youngs and Celia Markowski for spending time at the display and talking to passers-by.
Following are one person's view of some of the sights that were seen where a homey collection of buildings in what is usually a quiet field surrounded by woods was transformed into an old fashioned gala.
A trial run at the TOB
The Brookfield town supervisor checks out the exhibit during setup
