On the eve of the 162nd Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s Ag Fair, the extensive preparations are coming to a close. And like every year, it took a village.
With around 300 volunteers, Lauren Lynch, fair manager and president of the Agricultural Society, said fair preparation is heavily community based. Help from both volunteers and nonprofits around the Island is essential for the fair to come together each year.
By the time one year’s fair has finished, preparation for the next year is already in the works, said Lynch. As for the people setting up their booths this year, they arrived in trailers last Friday and then camped out on the grounds for about a week leading up to the fair.
This year’s fair will take place from Thursday to Sunday, operating between 10 am to 11 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and closing at 6 pm on Sunday.
Over the years, more and more volunteers have come to help with preparations.
“There are different committees for different departments, and they’re all instrumental in sort of figuring out what they need for their departments,” Lynch said while surveying the grounds this week. “We’ve had a lot more volunteers this year in terms of helping clean up the grounds.”
Volunteers range from Islanders to visitors, some even just staying on the Island for a couple of weeks. According to Lucy Grinnan, the Agricultural Society’s program and outreach coordinator, many are eager to help out. For some who grew up coming to the fair, it’s a full circle moment to now help set it up.
“I think one of the things that is really special about the fair is that it is a community effort, and it’s really representative, I think, of the community that we live in,” said Grinnan.
This year, a couple of new booths and activities can be expected on the fair’s itinerary.
“There’s some vendors that have been coming here for 20 plus years,” said Lynch. “But then some of them are aging out, and so it opens up opportunities for new vendors to come.”
A couple of years ago, the fair exhibited their first Brazilian food booth, aiming to represent and celebrate the Island’s Brazilian community. The diversity within the fair’s offerings, Lynch said, has grown over the years.
Now, the fair is hoping to add more educational activities to engage kids.
There will be daily storytimes this year beginning at 10:30 each morning, said Grinnan, in collaboration with town libraries. Saturday’s reading will be a bilingual story with Island Brazilian Maria Angela Moreira, in English and Portuguese.
“We’re really excited to give people more opportunities to learn at the fair,” said Grinnan.
Adam Moore, president of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation which partners with the fair, gave gratitude to the work of the Agricultural Society on the fair.
“He said to us last year that when he looks around the fair, the people who are there are more representative of the Island than any other event he’s encountered,” said Grinnan. “And I think that’s really true. It’s something we’re really proud of.”
