It’s community with a side of deep-fried Oreos.
For many, going to a city or county fair each year means carnival rides and maybe outrageous food.
But a trip to the Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair on Friday night provided insight into what the annual event means to those participating in activities there.
Fredericksburg’s extravaganza is billed as America’s oldest agricultural fair, having been established in 1738.
But fairs have been held since as early as 500 B.C., according to the Springfield, Mo.-based International Association of Fairs and Expos.
Fairs were commercial in nature starting in biblical times, the association says on its website: Merchants from distant countries would come together, bringing native wares to trade with one another, and it is reasonable to assume that “fair” was the name given to the place at which the trading was conducted.
Nowadays, about 2,000 fairs are held in North America each year, the association says. Agricultural fairs can be found throughout the United Kingdom, and in Australia, Mexico and other countries.
That suggests that people in those places probably aren’t that different from John and Cheryl Dees.
They came to the local fairgrounds from their Coffee Ripple Farm in King George County.
They were with their son Bryce, 22, volunteering for the Old Dominion Poultry Association, which runs the Poultry and Rabbit Show at the fair. The family had a couple of birds entered in the show, but they were mainly there to make sure the critters were cared for.
At their small hobby farm, they have a mix of birds: turkeys, geese, ducks and chickens.
“In the beginning,” John Dees said, “we focused on livestock breeds that were vanishing.”
He said being at the fair allows those in agriculture to get to know each other. They root for each other’s birds to win in the show, keep up with each other’s families and look out for one another.
“It’s a community, really,” Dees said.
The show includes a children’s event where a judge encourages young people to share all that they know about a given breed of bird. I told Cheryl Dees that that’s probably a good thing for kids to do instead of sitting in front of video screens all day.
But her response was way more thoughtful than that.
“Well, that and,” she said, “as more and more of our agricultural land gets developed, you know, you’ve got to pray that some of these young people are going to be the ones that try to preserve what’s left.”
Not too far away from the Deeses, I met another King George family.
They came to the fair for one of the two marquee features of opening night: the pageants.
Fifteen-year-old Lily Bowman was on hand to root on her sister, Paige, 19, who was competing Friday night.
Lily, who was wearing a sash she won by being named Teen Miss King George Fall Festival, said she entered the pageant community by following in the footsteps of her sister.
“So I saw her doing it, and it was like, ‘That’s really fun,’” Lily said. “And it’s a really great way to improve yourself.”
The hardest part of competing in pageants, she said, is the interview portion.
A pageant contestant performs at the Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair. (Photo by Dawn Uebelhoer/Moments by Dawn)
“When you’ve never experienced an interview, and you go in there and you’re in front of a bunch of people that you’ve never met in your life, and you’re talking to them, you know, it gets really scary,” she said. “A lot of people get really nervous about it. But, truthfully, you just have to train and work on it.”
Lily plans to go to college after finishing at King George High School. And then she’s thinking about being either a neuropsychologist or a labor-and-delivery nurse.
While the pageant contestants were engaged in polite competition, Aiden Degraef, 20, of Spotsylvania County was duking it out in a rougher scene: the demolition derby.
Spectators who paid $5 a pop to see the automotive destruction packed the grandstands, and the onlookers seemed to be of two kinds: those who understood the rules and those — like me — who were trying to learn them as the night went on.
Both types of folks really got into the action. The big news in sports Friday was the LeBron James signing in Philadelphia, but these fans were interested in round tires instead of roundball.
They quickly picked their favorite cars, which were decorated in various ways. Racing numbers were spray painted on many rides, and some employed a red-white-and-blue color scheme.
One of those with the patriotic look was Degraef’s. He won the derby in his fourth year of battling despite losing a front tire that flopped around the mud track until it finally came off the rim.
After the race, he collected a plaque and the $1,200 purse — and made sure to heap praise on the man who supplies him the race cars.
“This is my mechanic right here,” he said of fellow Spotsy resident James Pomeroy. “Shout out to him.”
The pair said they also race in Madison County, and at Langley Speedway in Hampton. At the latter, they participate in a race where derby cars run on a circle track.
“So it’s a whole different kind of experience,” Pomeroy said.
It probably goes without saying, but the friends confirmed that the derby is their favorite part of the fair each year.
“Yeah, this is our moneymaker right here,” Degraef said.
I think these guys are smarter than I am. If I run into another car, or drive my Toyota Corolla until a tire falls off, a big repair bill follows.
They wrecked a car — in front of a crowd of witnesses — and collected 1200 bucks.
