GREENFIELD — The fairgrounds on Wisdom Way was bustling with activity Tuesday as groundskeepers, vendors and organizers prepared for the 168th Franklin County Fair to be held this Thursday through Sunday.
With mostly hot, sunny weather predicted for the end of the week, fair President Fred Steiner is predicting a successful four days filled with food and fun. Gates open Thursday at 3 p.m., and the fair will officially kick off with a parade through downtown Greenfield at 5 p.m.
“The parade is a pretty good size. It’s as big as it ever has been, if not a little larger,” Steiner said, adding it will include a wide range of participants from Shriners in tiny cars to entries from local nursing homes and businesses.
The parade will have several grand marshals this year — 8-year-old Parker Beauregard, who designed this year’s fair poster, and the Greenfield Fire Department, which Steiner said went above and beyond the call of duty to help food vendors comply with state fire codes, which would have otherwise prevented them from cooking at the fair.
“(Parker) is going to get to ride on the fire truck with the firemen, and a bunch of firemen are going to be marching behind,” Steiner said. “We just felt that we could honor both of them, and it would work out nice with the little guy on the fire truck.”
Other highlights this year include the Coleman Brothers midway, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary; Franklin County’s Got Talent on Saturday night; apple pie and hot dog eating contests; the Flying High Frisbee Dogs; and Swifty Swine Productions’ racing — and swimming — pigs, which are replacing Robinson’s Racing Pigs this year.
For car and truck enthusiasts, Stoney Roberts will return with two demolition derbies featuring local drivers on Friday and Sunday evenings. Shootout Productions will also hold a truck pull Saturday afternoon, which Steiner said will include bigger vehicles this year.
“That really should be exciting,” he said. “We couldn’t get them to run last year because of the rain — we canceled them and had to send them back to Pennsylvania.”
Sylvia Fletcher, a ventriloquist who will perform daily on the Infield, is also expected to draw a big crowd. Although she wasn’t at the fair last year, Steiner said she’s performed there in the past.
For the first time in many years, goats will also return to the fairgrounds. Although they won’t be judged, Steiner said there will be seven pens of goats. If all goes well,he hopes to allow people to show them next year.
“I was looking for new things to do, and I had never seen goats and I don’t even remember them as a kid, but they tell me they did have them way back,” he said. “I’m just trying to bring back some of the old stuff that should be here as part of the agricultural phase of the fair.”
“I get a kick out of goats — the way they look, the way they act — so I think that should be fun,” he added.
The EMS parade will kick off in downtown Greenfield at noon on Sunday, followed by the Firefighters’ Muster in the grandstand at 2 p.m. This year, the muster will also include a tribute to 9/11 responders and a memorial to the victims of the terrorist attack 15 years ago.
With about 100 vendors, Steiner said, the fair is nearly at capacity for the first time in a number of years, and some have been put on a waiting list.
“Everything is in place for a very good fair,” he said. “We’re hoping that with good weather, it will bring crowds out.”
Further information about the Franklin County Fair, including a full schedule of events, is online at fcas.com.