Mike and Roxanne travel east

Tunbridge World's Fair Sep 14, 2007

September 14, 2007

Today was strictly for fun. We left the rig early and headed north towards Tunbridge. Our first stops were covered bridges. Could not find all the ones listed on the map, but did find most of them.

Then we turned around, came back to Tunbridge and went to the Tunbridge World's Fair. This is an old-fashioned agricultural fair in a rural setting. We walked through the animal barns, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and rabbits. We then toured the crafts barn, with knitting, quilts, foods, photography, paintings, and all manner of things.

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The Antique Hill has a full display of equipment and events from long ago; people were making braided rugs, carding and spinning wool, making apply cider and shingles for a house. There were old time equipment, water pumps, carriages, wagons, an old school house and a civil war camp.

From here we went and watched the dairy cows being judges. Cows are as stubborn as mules. Several of them dug in their heels and did not want to move. They eventually were pulled from the front and pushed from the rear to get them going.

We then went and watch the harness racing. I picked the right horse twice to Mike's one. He still owes me a dollar. While watching the racing we ate fair food, blooming onions.

Then it was off to the Larkin Dancers and I had a caricature done. By now it was time for the horse pull. This basically is a two-horse team trying to pull a sled with concrete blocks that weigh from 3500 lbs. As a round finishes additional weight is added until eventually there was over 7500 lbs on the sled. There were only two teams to compete at that weight. Neither of the teams could pull the weight the required six feet, but the winner did pull the sled for 62 inches.

The horses are massive and apparently have a love for pulling. Even when they could not move the sled they would continue to pull until told to stop.

Our final activity for the day was the tractor pull. Here you have farm tractors divided into a weight class. They then pull a sled that is set for a certain weight. The idea is to pull the sled at least 190 feet. If this cannot be accomplished they you just pull as far as possible.

The event this year had over 100 entries and we only watch the weigh-in and the first two heats.

One of the interesting things is the age of the contestants. They ranged from about eight year old to farmers in their 60's are better. The youngsters can drive the tractors as long as they are off road. The young ones did quite well also.

Finally it was time to come home. This was only my third county fair and the last one was nearly 25 years ago.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time. Tomorrow we will be on the road again headed to Montpelier, Vermont.