(Aug. 10, 2017) Highlighted by a trio of sunny days, last week’s Great Pocomoke Fair offered something a little different each day.
Fair President John Smith said the diverse offerings kept the fairgrounds hopping with activity from Thursday through Saturday.
“We had good attendance for three days,” he said. “The crowd was actually up some from last year.”
After warming up on Thursday evening with poultry and rabbit judging, in addition to the Little Miss and Jr. Miss fair pageants, Smith said things began to simmer on Friday.
In addition to livestock judging, including hogs, dairy cows and beef cattle, Friday highlights included the second annual Hobby Horse race, followed by drag races, which included a new wrinkle this year, Smith said.
“The ATV races had real good attendance being that was new this year,” he said. “That was probably one of the bigger Friday nights we’ve had in a while.”
With roughly 100 ATVs on hand Friday, Smith said on Saturday the fair managed to pull in more than 50 tractors for the antique and classic tractor pull.
“[During] the tractor pull, we had 51 participants [or] 51 hooks, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Livestock judging on Saturday included sheep, along with pygmy, dairy and meat goats. Harness racing dominated the afternoon’s activities and was punctuated with a greased pig contest.
The Eastern Shore Cruisers provided another highlight on Saturday with a wide variety of muscle-car eye candy.
“The car show that we had Saturday night seemed to be pretty well attended,” he said. “They came back in the spring when they did a Relay For Life event. We asked them if they wanted to come back and they … said they’d be glad to come back.”
Smith said the livestock exhibits were well received by spectators.
“We were short on cows this year, [but] we had an abundance of everything else,” he said.
The indoor exhibits included: vegetables, cakes, pies, breads, cookies, candies, food preservation, cut flowers, woodworking, fine arts, needlework, embroidery and photography.
“The photography was way up this year,” he said. “Our entries were about the same, but it was just different categories were up. What used to be up was down and what used to down was up.”
Looking ahead, Smith said he would like to bring back carnival rides, despite some financial and scheduling challenges.
“It was seven or eight years ago we cut them out because they got so expensive we couldn’t afford them,” he said. “We’re hoping maybe we can get a carnival back.”
Locating sponsorship is only the first step to reintroduce rides to the fair, Smith said.
“There are very few carnival and ride companies left,” he said. “The ones that are left are the cream of the crop and they stay booked two years in advance.”
Fair President John Smith said the diverse offerings kept the fairgrounds hopping with activity from Thursday through Saturday.
“We had good attendance for three days,” he said. “The crowd was actually up some from last year.”
After warming up on Thursday evening with poultry and rabbit judging, in addition to the Little Miss and Jr. Miss fair pageants, Smith said things began to simmer on Friday.
In addition to livestock judging, including hogs, dairy cows and beef cattle, Friday highlights included the second annual Hobby Horse race, followed by drag races, which included a new wrinkle this year, Smith said.
“The ATV races had real good attendance being that was new this year,” he said. “That was probably one of the bigger Friday nights we’ve had in a while.”
With roughly 100 ATVs on hand Friday, Smith said on Saturday the fair managed to pull in more than 50 tractors for the antique and classic tractor pull.
“[During] the tractor pull, we had 51 participants [or] 51 hooks, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Livestock judging on Saturday included sheep, along with pygmy, dairy and meat goats. Harness racing dominated the afternoon’s activities and was punctuated with a greased pig contest.
The Eastern Shore Cruisers provided another highlight on Saturday with a wide variety of muscle-car eye candy.
“The car show that we had Saturday night seemed to be pretty well attended,” he said. “They came back in the spring when they did a Relay For Life event. We asked them if they wanted to come back and they … said they’d be glad to come back.”
Smith said the livestock exhibits were well received by spectators.
“We were short on cows this year, [but] we had an abundance of everything else,” he said.
The indoor exhibits included: vegetables, cakes, pies, breads, cookies, candies, food preservation, cut flowers, woodworking, fine arts, needlework, embroidery and photography.
“The photography was way up this year,” he said. “Our entries were about the same, but it was just different categories were up. What used to be up was down and what used to down was up.”
Looking ahead, Smith said he would like to bring back carnival rides, despite some financial and scheduling challenges.
“It was seven or eight years ago we cut them out because they got so expensive we couldn’t afford them,” he said. “We’re hoping maybe we can get a carnival back.”
Locating sponsorship is only the first step to reintroduce rides to the fair, Smith said.
“There are very few carnival and ride companies left,” he said. “The ones that are left are the cream of the crop and they stay booked two years in advance.”