Every year, the Altamont Fair draws thousands of people with its flashier facets, from the newest rides to a destructive demolition derby. But for a slew of volunteers, the main attraction is one that flings you back in time.
Stretching along the back portion of the fairgrounds are several museums featuring a look into agricultural history and a building dedicated to classic cars. Several volunteers maintain these showcases of another time, both static displays and those in The Antique Farm Machinery Museum, with its fully operational equipment powered by hand and horse.
On a rainy Friday, Aug. 9, the fairgrounds were largely vacant and only a few carnival rides sat, awaiting visitors. The museums were just starting to bustle as volunteers prepared exhibits and strategized how to best feature a bevy of items likely foreign to many of the fair’s younger attendees.
Pat Canaday, an Altamont Fair board member, said the nonprofit groups behind the fair — the Albany, Schenectady and Greene County Agricultural and Historical Societies — have many of their own items received through donations, but other area historical societies are offered space to display.
“By offering some space to other people, we give them the opportunity to share the collections they may not be able to show as often in their own space,” Canaday said. “It is a different audience. The people that come to the Altamont Fair are different people than would go to the Berne, Clarksville or Schenectady (historical societies), so it gives everybody a chance to share the audience.”
Canaday said along with adding some “valuable new information” to the Farm House Museum, the partnerships also result in some new friendships.
“Being able to share how we evolved as a society and as a culture … is an eye opener when people stop to think how they planted corn or how they harvested corn,” Canaday said.
Jenna Peterson, educator and assistant curator of the Schenectady County Historical Society, said, “You can’t know where you are until you know where you’ve been.”
Canaday said it’s important to try and get people to visit some of the museums to get a sense of the past.
“If we can have folks just stop for a moment and reflect on where we have been, how we got here, it is a huge plus for us,” she said.
Andy Tinning, an associate member of the fair, is an active volunteer who is more than willing to share his knowledge on the history of hulking farm equipment used to harvest hay or process corn.
Around three years ago, Tinning, of Altamont, became actively involved with the fair through the chance discovery of an old horse-drawn road grader, which was delivered to the Town of Guilderland Highway Department in 1887. The grader sat in the woods for around 50 years before he discovered it, he said.
This find led Tinning to restore the grader back to working order, and it has been featured in area parades and at the fair. Through restoring it, he has reconnected with the fair he visited as a boy.
“When I was little kid, about 10 years old, I slept in the pony barn all week,” Tinning said.
At 67 years old, Tinning is considered the go-to person on anything related to historical information of items in the Antique Farm Equipment Museum.
“The whole museum is quite a show for what life was like for farms back at the turn of the century,” Tinning said. “These items are becoming more and more rare and they are hard to find, and fewer and fewer of them are available. We also have some new equipment outside that we display … but not real new.”
There are various pieces of farm machinery and equipment showing how food was produced — from the simple corn seed planter to a monstrous rye rubber used to process grains.
“It is the little things like that you don’t even think about, but when you do think about it and realize the whole produce involved … it all makes sense,” he said. “You can understand the progression once you see what things used to be like.”
There are even some personal items from Tinning’s family featured in the Farm House Museum.
His mother’s high chair that converted into a stroller is inside the museum, with a picture of her in the chair featured behind it. She passed away seven years ago at 96 years old, he said.
“That is a picture of my mom standing in it at 3 years old,” he said. “I bring it every year to the fair and then I bring it back home again.”
Many people also come to the fair and visit museums to see items their family has donated, which belonged to their deceased relatives.
“Grandkids from around here will come in to see their grandpa’s car,” Rick Miller said. “That is what happens. A lot of stuff that is donated to the fair the parents, grandparents ain’t here no more. The kids come and look.”
Miller, of Altamont, sat inside the Cars: Past, Present and Future museum amidst relics from past racers. He said once someone donates an item it’s important to preserve it, along with making sure it’s displayed.
“I’m sure that happens in a lot of the other museums around here,” Miller said.
Canaday said it is “really hard” to change anything in the museums, because people want to see certain items annually, but she also wants to add new items to keep other visitors interested in exhibits.
“There is a whole group of people who want to see everything exactly like they remember it from 20 years ago,” she said. “Then there is another group that says nothing ever changes.”
Canaday said a future collection is being discussed to feature the history of the fair, which is running for the 120th year. Throughout the museums there are some items tied to the fair already.
Herald Hahn, a longtime Altamont Fair board member, stood inside the Bozenkill School that was built in 1850 in Knox and talked about its history. The small old-style school was used until the 1950s and the fair purchased the building in 1966 for $25.
Hahn believes over time, the historical features of the fair will only continue to grow in popularity.
“I believe as time goes on the museum aspect will take the place of some of the other events, because it is cultural,” Hahn said.
The Altamont Fair opened its gates on Tuesday, Aug. 13, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 18. For information on the fair, visit its website at altamontfair.com.