Sandwich Fair

It has been years sense my wife and I have been to the fair. My brother Bernard use to be the Chief of Police up there, he was always very busy that day from dawn till dark. It was fun having a brother that was the Chief of Police. He earned the position, he was extremely qualified and a Korean War Vet as well, he was a survivor of the battle at the Chosin Reservoir, a freezing cold, miserable, bloody battle where they were extremely outnumbered.


When I was a kid my brothers and I would never miss Sandwich Fair, it use to be a one day affair on October 12th. ending in fireworks, now it goes on for three days, it was the highlight of the year. In fact I would tell my teachers not to expect me in class, they would have to struggle through without my contributory excellence because being at the fair was far more important then being in school. I remember in High School at Portsmouth High, I was in English and my teachers name was Mr. Grogan, what a great guy he was, he even gave his time to teach track after school, anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. He told the class that he needed a 100% attendance so as to prepare for a big upcoming test. I put my hand up and said Mr. Grogan you know better then to expect me to be in class on Columbus Day, you know I’ll be at the fair. He just looked at me in astonishment, but he knew, we had talked together about the fair a few days before. Thank God he was an understanding teacher.


I would be there at opening ready for any kind of action. I remember standing in line to get a glass of hard cider, to me that was the best thing ever. As I recall I spent a great deal of time in that line. Then my brother and I made the mistake of the day when we bought some red died hotdogs, we found out later just how big a mistake it was, we both became so sick that on the way home we had to stop along the side of the road and run into the trees to heave our stomachs out. On the way home we stopped at a dinner and ordered up some Alker Seltzer. Neither of us have ever had one of those red died hotdogs sense.


I use to love to watch the horse pulling contest, what incredible animals they were. Then the hogs, they were enormous. The food contests were fun to, sometimes we got to bring some home with us and the girls, the place was crawling with them.


My older brother, Dean, would compete in the log cutting contest where he would stand on top of this big ol’ log and using a double bladed axe, you could shave with, bring it down between his legs, and for what I thought, one slip and there goes your leg, but no one ever got hurt and my brother would win from time to time. There was also the pole cutting contest to drop a pole onto a wedge and drive it into the ground, he won a lot of those as well. When he wasn’t doing that he would be plucking away at one of his musical instruments with his wife Phyllis.


The food, not the red hotdogs, the contest, the huge animals, the friends to have fun with and the fireworks at night made it a wonderful event. A lot has probably changed by now but one day I’ll return with my wife and we will relive once again, those great days of years past.


http://www.thesandwichfair.com/