Festivities at the Altamont Fair were far different 121 years ago when the inaugural event kicked off after a year of planning and preparations.
Imagining the early scene might be difficult for some people, but not for much longer. A new photography exhibit will allow people to get a sense of what came before the blooming onions and midway.
A public opening reception will be held Monday, June 16, at 7 p.m. at the Altamont Archives and Museum’s Hallway Gallery in Village Hall, located at 115 Main St., for “Treasured Memories: The Altamont Fair.” The exhibit is fittingly dedicated to “the American farmer,” with agriculture fueling the fair’s creation. Keith Lee curated the exhibit using material from the Altamont Fair Association’s collections, along with some material from the village’s archives.
Formerly known as the hamlet of Knowersville, Altamont was incorporated as a village in 1890. The founders then looked for a way to attract visitors to the new village and eventually decided on pursuing an agricultural fair.
The first public meeting on the idea was held in August of 1892 and in September of 1893, the first fair was held. A fair had not been held for several years in Albany County before it kicked off, and it eventually became the first tri-county fair in the state, according to Lee.
“For the new village it was a boom,” Lee said. “They judged everything — poultry, ducks, rabbits, cattle, horses — but the primary focus interestingly enough was horses and horse racing.”
Marijo Dougherty, curator of the Village of Altamont Archives and Museum, said there were some “smaller rides” in the early days, but it pales in comparison to the attractions its known for today.
Dougherty said kids would probably “laugh at” the photos of an old Ferris wheel, because of how tiny it looks compared to modern ones. The attire of fair attendees was also quite different, with women wearing “big hats and dresses,” she said.
“It is really interesting to see how people used to attend the fair,” she said. “To think about it in the summer — they would be melting.”
She said now-a-days it’s hard to compete for people’s attention, but many families still come to the fair to create the same kind of memories as attendees a century ago.
Picturing how Altamont came about might also be an equally entertaining exercise.
“Altamont has a relatively short but colorful history. The village as we know it today did not exist prior to the first arrival of trains,” Lee said. “Where you see Altamont today, there was nothing. There was a swamp and farmland.”
The exhibit is somewhat of an offshoot for the book Lee will soon release about the history of the village. There is a chapter in the book detailing the history of the Altamont Fair.
While the exhibit space is small in Village Hall, Lee hopes it can be expanded in the future.
“We are hoping maybe the fair will be able to expand this exhibit into their grounds and own activities,” he said. “We got a lot of history here and need to show it.”
There will also be another event tied to the exhibit held on Monday, June 23, at 7 p.m., in the Community Room at Village Hall. Everett Rau of Pleasant View Farm will talk about his life in farming and what he hopes for the future of his family’s farm. Laura Shore will be interviewing Rau.
