A few weeks ago I went to the New York State Fair. It’s become something of a ritual for my family; there are things we must do every time we go.
We eat lunch and dinner at the International Building, each getting different things and sharing. Sushi, falafel, pierogies…yum.
We always visit the Poultry Barn, where my youngest and I play a game she started as a toddler. Can we buy a (chicken, duck, bunny, racing pigeon)? My answer is just “No.”
We catch a little of whatever is going on in the equestrian arena in the Toyota Coliseum. This year it was six hitch Belgians and later, Percherons driven “unicorn” fashion (two behind, one in front). Gorgeous beasts, all of them.
Besides those things, we wander the various exhibition halls and watch whatever performers happen to be on, check out the sand and butter sculptures, etc… We end the day watching the parade and eating funnel cake.
Fairs in England started out as agricultural events: opportunities to buy and sell livestock. Entertainment was also important, but by the late eighteenth century it was a major focus of the “Fringe Fairs” around London, which included Greenwich, where I had the hero of Fly with a Rogue do a balloon ascension.
Here are some descriptions of Greenwich Fair from Sketches from Boz, Chapter 12 by Charles Dickens, 1836. According to other sources, his descriptions were valid for the Regency. He describes the entertainment, which included itinerant theatres, Wild Beast Shows, exhibitions of dwarfs and the like, and dancing at the Crown & Anchor.
Imagine yourself in an extremely dense crowd, which swings you to and fro, and in and out, and every way but the right one; add to this the screams of women, the shouts of boys, the clanging of gongs, the firing of pistols, the ringing of bells, the bellowings of speaking-trumpets, the squeaking of penny dittos, the noise of a dozen bands, with three drums in each, all playing different tunes at the same time, the hallooing of showmen, and an occasional roar from the wild-beast shows; and you are in the very centre and heart of the fair.
And here’s a bit on the food:
The entrance is occupied on either side by the vendors of gingerbread and toys: the stalls are gaily lighted up, the most attractive goods profusely disposed, and unbonneted young ladies, in their zeal for the interest of their employers, seize you by the coat, and use all the blandishments of ‘Do, dear’—‘There’s a love’—‘Don’t be cross, now,’ &c., to induce you to purchase half a pound of the real spice nuts, of which the majority of the regular fair-goers carry a pound or two as a present supply, tied up in a cotton pocket-handkerchief. Occasionally you pass a deal table, on which are exposed pen’orths of pickled salmon (fennel included), in little white saucers: oysters, with shells as large as cheese-plates, and divers specimens of a species of snail (wilks, we think they are called), floating in a somewhat bilious-looking green liquid.
I remember the hero of Georgette Heyer’s Fridays’s Child taking the heroine to a fair, but off the top of my head, I can’t remember other fairs in Regency romance. It wasn’t an especially proper thing to do, and could get a bit rowdy. Not to say that people of the gentry or aristocracy couldn’t go, but they’d plan accordingly.
Do you enjoy county or state fairs? What’s your favorite thing to do (or eat) there?
But before we discuss, here are the winners of the paperback version of Fly with a Rogue:
Bonnie
Kathy
Stella
Sheila C
Mary C
Please send your snail mail address to elena @ elenagreene.com. Thanks for visiting!
Great post, Elena! I’ve read about many fair visits (or market day visits?) in medieval-set books, but you’re right–there aren’t many in Regencies. I may need to write a farmer heroine who goes to one and encounters trouble 🙂 I am headed to our own state fair this weekend, I love it! The one time of the year I eat corndogs and ice cream, and look at the pedigree chickens (even though I’m such a city girl, for some reason I love the chickens…)
I love the chickens, too! We dubbed the one I posted the “Muppet Chicken” but I also think it looks like a Dr. Seuss creature.
Funny about the corndogs–I will only eat funnel cake once a year. So good. So fattening!
I grew up on a farm, went to the county fair every year. Our particular social circle (farm kids), generally had things entered in fair. My family did not do animals, but we did rather routinely get blue and purple ribbons for sewing, knitting, and vegetables. I got a few for artwork also. Fair was fun, but we rarely did any of the amusements. We tended to spend one day (partial day, since we still had to do chores, and it took over an hour to get there) and it generally occurred right at the peak of action on our farm.
So interesting to hear about the other side of fairs, the people who make it happen. Thanks!
I haven’t been to a modern state fair since I was a kid, but I do remember enjoying all the interesting chickens and wondering how the 4H kids could bear to part with their animals at the end when they were auctioned off.
I’ve put a couple of fairs into my books. There’s a frost fair in LORD SIN (1788 being one of the years when the Thames froze over) and the hero and his friends go to the Appleby Horse Fair in RIPE FOR PLEASURE.
Oh, now I’m remembering LORD SIN! Thanks for jogging my poor memory. And I’m sure I’ve read a few other Frost Fair stories, but it was years ago.
Georgette Heyer described another fair (albeit not in London) in The Foundling, where the very beautiful but also very naive Belinda was entranced.
Sheesh, my memory is shot! Thanks for reminding me of that one, HJ. You’re all making me want to go reread a lot of the books on my shelves. Along with catching up on my TBR list. Now that this book is out, I’m going to take more time for reading. 🙂
I worked for a nearby Virginia county and every year people in the mental health center were expected to volunteer for the county fair, usually on their own time. Can you imagine having to man the Mental Health booth?
I managed to avoid it every time, even though I worked there a brazillian years!