The annual North Haven Fair is in full swing this weekend with a celebratory aura in the air due to this being the fair’s 80th year.
The fair originally opened in 1942, and this year it opened its doors on Sept. 8, with a traditional American flag raised and a cake shared by everyone in attendance. With this significant milestone, the event coordinators pulled out all the stops to make this year’s fair momentous.
“We put our heart and soul into it to make improvements,” treasurer of the North Haven Fair Association Roger Poggio said. “Like the new arena, we put new lighting up too, so our hearts are into making this fair a known fair in the area.”
The 2021 fair had many COVID-19 restrictions, such as social distancing. This year’s fair had minimal COVID-19 restrictions providing a sense of normalcy to the coordinators and attendees. Poggio said he valued this because it eased the planning process.
“Last year was all touch and go, but this year we’re just going the way we used to do it,” Poggio said.
With fewer restrictions, the assumption would be that maintaining the fairgrounds would become more difficult for police due to the influx of people. However, according to the captain of the North Haven Police Task Force Christopher Thorpe, this year’s fair is as unpredictable as any year.
“You never know what you are going to get,” said Thorpe. “Could have a nice busy Friday night with no problems. You could have a quieter night and a dozen problems, so you never know what you’re going to expect.”
Thorpe said he used to attend the fair as a child and now brings his three children to enjoy the outdoor festival. Despite the fair changing significantly since that time, Thorpe says he still looks forward to the same things.
“You always look forward to seeing the same faces, same vendors, same events, but year to year they try to stay up with things that are current,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe is one of many who have been attending the fair for most of their lives. Throughout the fair, there will be couples that have attended the fair together for decades. Nevertheless, few can compete with the longevity of Robert and Verna Verrone, who have been going to the fair for 42 years.
During their first year of attendance, Verna knitted a crochet sweater for her son that attendees heralded. Ever since then, she has been helping out at the fair with knitting and has also won the annual knitting competition at the fair for a knitted blanket. She is glad that the COVID-19 restrictions were loosened for this year
“It is nice to feel like it is back to normal again, I hated the mask I am glad that it is all over,” Verna said.
Fewer restrictions meant more vendors, which led to a diverse assortment of food sold at the fair.
Most of the vendors were small business owners, but one of them stuck out like a sore thumb. Unlike the other food vendors on the premises, this soul food vendor sold food to fund their church Life-Changing Outreach Ministries. This was the church’s first year at the fair and Pastor Lisa Sessions-Grey said that the goal of the vendor was to integrate into the North Haven community.
“It’s not so much a fundraiser but more of us being a part of the North Haven community,” Grey said. “We want to be a part of (the) North Haven community.”
The fair will run until Sunday, Sept. 11. For more information on the fair’s 80th year celebration visit their website.