2001 History
Compiled by
Irene Wheeler, Historian
The 141st Woodstock Fair was a terrific fair. It was a wonderful weekend with wonderful weather and attendance. It took place over Labor Day weekend from Friday, August 31 through Monday, September 3. This was our third, four-day fair and it was a great success.
The weather forecasted rain for Friday and Saturday but we were lucky and the rains came in the night and not during the day. The days were what you might consider perfect weather with highs in the low 80’s and low humidity.
As always there were lots of things to see and do at this fair. Our exhibition halls and cattle and sheep barns were packed with exhibits and we were entertained on both stages with great shows. On Friday we had Taylor Dayne on the Main stage with Deanna, Siren of Sleep, and Tim Gabrielson a comedy magician. The Rhode Island Old Time Fiddlers were here for their 55th year and Alexander the Jester, and the Band of Humans were on the south stage on Friday. There was also an antique tractor pull on Friday night.
On Saturday, Herman’s Hermits with Peter Noone did two shows on our main stage along with the All-Star disco Dy-no-mite Revue and others. On the South Stage we had Luis Pabon Dance Theater, Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters with good country and bluegrass and The Little Big Band playing swing and show tunes.
On Sunday Gary Pucket and the Union Gap played their songs from the 60’s. A group called Aces and Eights played country songs and the Woodstock Coronet Bank played both Saturday and Sunday on the main stage.
On Monday, our biggest attraction of the weekend played two sets on the Main stage. Billy Ray Cyrus, television and country-music star brought in a big crowd. He put on a great show and many people stayed in their seats to watch his second show. People set up their chairs on the lawn hours before he was to play. We also had many other acts. The Woodstock Academy Hill Singers and stage bad played the south stage on Monday, Tourtellotte High stage band played Sunday and the Plainfield, Killingly and Putnam marching bands played Saturday, Sunday and Monday respectively. There was the Spam and Fleischmann’s bread contests, The Colonial Crafts exhibits, Abington Antique Iron, with gasoline and machine engine exhibit. The Commerford Free Circus Animal Petting Zoo, the Go-cart racing, the firemen’s bingo tent, Yankee Yesteryear car Club, the cattle, sheep, rabbit, swine, poultry, beef and dairy shows were going full force. You could see the fine arts, fruits, vegetables, flowers, food, handiwork, junior exhibits and event the Indian ceremonial dancing.
During the weekend there was a full open horse show and a tractor pull on Friday, an ox pull on Saturday, a pony pull on Sunday and a horse pull on Monday. Of course, you couldn’t miss the concessions and the rides and what about the food.
The Agriculture Exhibits tent expanded this year. Thousands of people made butter and snacked on the cheese. The little chicks were hatching and the newest attraction was the little farm where the children could dig potatoes, collect eggs and pick apples. It was a big hit. The live bees and the maple syrup producers with the Forestry Management exhibits and the Alpacas and Wildlife Booth had many visitors.
Attendance at this fair was also quite good. On Friday, we had 24, 375. This was not a record due to the fact that people might have been afraid to attend due to the forecasted rainy weather. On Saturday, we had 69,094 which was not a record. Sunday was a record with 88,235 and Monday was also a record with 61,150. The grand total for the weekend was 243,854, which was also a record attendance for the weekend.
This year the fair gave eight $1,000 scholarships to deserving high school seniors from Woodstock Academy.