HEATH — Have you ever made rope or tasted a “mortgage lifter” tomato? If not, then the Heath Fair Agricultural Tent is the go-to place this weekend, where fair-goers can relive the region’s agricultural past and see what our future could be.
The Heath Fair has been going on for 99 years, and many of the activities people would have seen decades ago are still going on now — from Friday’s ham and bean supper, square dance and fireworks Friday to Sunday’s Heath Fire Department chicken barbecue and this year’s farm parade. In between are antique tractor pulls and parades, sheep and cattle shows, herd dog demonstrations, horse-drawn wagon rides, horse- and ox draws, live music, and food.
The fair starts Friday, Aug. 19, from 5 to 11 p.m. and runs through Sunday, Aug. 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $8, seniors $6 and free for children under 9 years old. Parking on the Fairgrounds, on Colrain Stage Road, is $1.
A speakers’ tent offers several lectures daily, ranging from “Small Batch Fermentation” of foods, by Heather Wernimont of Real Pickles, to garden talks on “Good Bugs/Bad Bugs,” seed saving, bee keeping, birds of prey and state Rep. Paul Mark on state initiatives on climate change.
Within the Agricultural Tent, fair-goers can learn to make a quill pen they can write with, shell corn with an antique sheller, light a light bulb with a bicycle-powered generator, or make butter or ice cream the old-fashioned way. You can watch weavers and learn what their craft is all about or sample a selection of heirloom tomatoes (mortgage-lifters included).
Friday’s music includes Twisted Pine and the Fall Town String Band; on Saturday it’s Moonshine Holler, Appalachian Still, Fancy Trash, and Lonesome Brothers. Sunday’s music includes the Shelburne Falls Military Band and the Lonely Heartstring Band.
Here’s a day-by-day list of highlights:
Friday: Antique tractor parade/tractor pull at 5:30 p.m.; Church Ladies ham and bean supper 5:30 p.m.; square dance 7:30 to 11 p.m. and fireworks at nightfall.
Saturday: Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association talk at 11 a.m.; adult sheep and cattle shows at 11 a.m., Fire Department chicken barbecue noon (both Saturday and Sunday); and truck pull 5 to 10 p.m.
Sunday: Blueberry pancake breakfast 9 am.; youth sheep show 10 a.m., youth cattle show 11 a.m.; “Farm Friends” Parade at 1 p.m.
Throughout all days, the Exhibit Hall will have arts, crafts and farm exhibits, flower arrangements, painting and photography, vendors and children’s games.
For more information, go online to: www.heathfair.org