For many decades, Brattleboro was home to the annual Valley Fair at this time of year. It was a two day, town-wide celebration of livestock, farming, craftsmanship, sport, and entertainment. Brattleboro literally shut down so that everyone could participate. Imagine the Stroll merged with the Guilford Fair, on steroids.
The newspapers would hype the event for months, giving details of various fair committees and their decisions. After the fair, they would run multi-page accounts with full details, and pages with lists of every winner of every competition – from best pumpkin pie to the cow that can produce the most milk.
Let’s go to Valley Fair, 1893! I’ve combed through the reports to recreate a visit for us.