Jumping for Joy
Late summer is fair season with all the fun of agricultural contests and the ballyhoo of the midway. But one annual fair is decidedly different—smaller, more intimate, the very epitome of small-town life.
“I have had people say to me that it is like Brigadoon,” said Carol Sherwood, who has worked organizing the annual event for about a decade. “The whole town comes alive for one day with vendors, a car show, live entertainment, children’s contests and the cardboard regatta. Then the next day it is all gone and everything is back to normal.”
The fair began in 1944, when a teacher at the local school decided the children needed something to lighten the gloom of the war years. Many of their fathers and brothers were in military service and there was rationing of both food and gas. She suggested that the children create a hometown fair. The children responded to the challenge.
“The fair was small—a bandstand with music, a fortune teller and a table with farm products and crafts. But it was successful and the next year they held the fair again and people came from surrounding towns,” Sherwood said.
“Over the years, the Colebrook Associates took it over and operated it for 56 years,” Sherwood related. “For a while it was a giant tag sale and auction. That lasted quite a few years and was a lot of fun. Then the town took over and planned the car show, frog jumping contest, pet parade and cardboard regatta.”
The fair, as with so many events, was cancelled last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is back this year although some of the planners are holding their breath, hoping that Covid does not worsen in the next two weeks.
“It’s going to be as great as ever,” said Sherwood. “We’re really thrilled to do it again this year. Everyone works so hard for this—it is all volunteer—and all the events are back in place.”
The thing that makes the Colebrook Fair so special is the feeling of bonhomie in the air. The day starts early. Behind the historical society, children arrive carrying containers with freshly captured frogs to compete in the annual frog-jumping contest. Those youngsters who have not captured an amphibian can still take part, however. “We have ‘rent-a-frog,'” Sherwood said. “If they come and want to take part, they can just go and get a frog.”
One by one, the children move into the ring, placing their competitors on a piece of plywood decorated with a picture of a frog. Gently nudged with an index finger or stroked along their backs, the amphibians display their athletic abilities, leaping many times their bodies’ lengths.
Sometimes it is difficult to discern who is more enthusiastic—the frogs or the kids. Some of children seem reluctant to touch the creatures while the smallest frogs sometimes seem too chilled by the cool morning to jump very far. The larger jumpers squiggle and wriggle, sometimes getting out of their handlers’ grips, ready to leap far and fast when finally placed in position.
The judges gently encourage young contestants in the pet parade and every entrant—whether chicken, rabbit or dog—receives its just praise. Bystanders sometimes lend an animal to a dog-less child who wants to join in.
In the town’s center visitors can enjoy balloon art, face painting and the chance to do arts and crafts while live entertainment fills the air with music. Vendors line the street and sprawl over onto the historic village green in front of the Colebrook Meetinghouse. A tag sale in the Senior & Community Center is a remnant of past celebrations and the smell of food permeates the air from vendors’ booths and the Senior & Community Center where visitors can buy pie by the slice.
At 3:30 PM the Cardboard Regatta competitors take center stage. They make their “water-worthy” craft from sheets of cardboard (available from Town Hall in return for a $10 registration fee). Imagination reigns as would-be sailors create and decorate their craft, turning the cardboard into fanciful pirate ships, swamp patrol boats, Viking ships and more. The aim is to paddle the cumbersome vessels across the placid little town pond and back.
“The contestants make boats out of cardboard and duct tape,” Sherwood said. “Most of the boats have some kind of theme. Some don’t make it past the starting line, others collapse during the race and a lot make it to the finishing line. All the bystanders cheer every contestant on. Everyone is laughing. It is so nice.”
“Nice” is a word that pops up often as Sherwood describes the fair.
“It’s nice to see the town come together,” she said. “It’s amazing how many people are involved and everyone has a big smile on their face. It’s just a real nice thing.”
Parking is free and there is no admission to the fair. A shuttle bus transports visitors. For more information please visit the link below.
