The 158th Cummington Fair
The 158th Cummington Fair drew good crowds, eager to get out in the splendid early autumn weather. Since 2018, Albert Judd of the family-run Goshen Stone Company in Goshen, MA, has been president of the Hillside Agricultural Society, which organizes Cummington Fair in Cummington, MA.
Folks of all ages got a chance to pet or hold animals they wouldn’t otherwise see up close. Andrea White and her daughter Lydia White, 9, each got a chance to hold a brand-new chick outside the 4-H chicken barn at the Cummington Fair. It is Andrea’s favorite part of the fair.
Her husband Matt White, owner of the quarry Swift River Stone, has attended the Cummington Fair all his life. “My grandfather sold the land for the demolition derby that’s on the hill by the fairgrounds,” he said. His grandfather was the late Lincoln Howes, native son of Cummington.
“He was my idol growing up. I saw how he treated people and how well he was respected by his peers. I thought ‘I want to be like my grandfather,’” Matt said.
Matt took the values his grandfather taught him all the way to the major leagues, where he pitched for the Boston Red Sox, “a dream come true for me,” he said. He always returns to the Cummington Fair to talk with old friends, like Albert Judd, a fellow quarryman.
Eric Duprey grew up in Monson, MA, and remembers attending Cummington Fair with his family. Now a resident of Ware, on Aug. 29 he returned with his family, wife Samantha, son Brooks (5) and daughter Lainey (1), to meet up with his 90-year-old grandfather David Haley, a lifelong Cummington Fair attendee.
Brooks got a chance to pet the nose and feel the tiny horn of a young Chianina ox, one of a team owned by Sean Porter of Ashfield, MA. The other ox in Porter’s team is a Chianina-Holstein mix. They are named Chocolate and Vanilla.
Porter has had them since they were born, as his father owns Porter Family Farm in Ashfield and raises Chianinas. Now 13, he was a member of the 4-H Stoneboat Working Steers until he was 12. He’s raised several teams; this team is the one he has raised this year. What does he like best about his team?
“They respect me and they listen to me very well,” he said. They were patiently waiting at the head of the oxen parade that took place at the fair.
Next in line were a pair of Dutch Belted Galloways owned by Wyatt Inman of Heath, MA, named Duke and Bud.
A pair of Dexter calves named Magic and Dusty were driven by Hannah Dewkett, 7, of Hinsdale, MA, as her sister Harper, 4, led the way. The ox world is a close-knit community and this pair of Dexters were easily recognizable as Dexters raised by Laura Scott of Buckland, MA, from whom the team was purchased.
Faith Bisbee of Clay Hill Farm in Chesterfield, MA, drove a team of six-month-old Brown Swiss, Jerry and Reed, that are owned by her daughter Brook. The Bisbees annually travel east with other teamsters to enter their oxen in the Martha Vineyard’s Agricultural Fair.
“She’s getting ready to take them to the Big E, which is a very big deal,” said Faith. “Probably the best part of the ox world is the older generation involved. They work with our kids. They have so much knowledge. They are so helpful.”
Meanwhile, inside the chicken barn, Daniel Russell kept watch over more than 30 fowl entries so that people could view them (but not pester them) – a position he has proudly held for 44 years.
Among oxen pulls and other events, Sunday featured the Western Massachusetts Lumberjack Championship, the draft horse pull and the Golden Wedding Contest, with four categories: longest married, most living children, most living grandchildren and most living great-grandchildren, followed by the Antique Car & Tractor Parade.
The Cummington Fair will return in August 2027.
by Laura Rodley
