GREENFIELD — The two new attractions at this year’s Franklin County Fair — a costume contest for chickens and beer garden— both were well received by attendees, organizers said.
With the beer garden, this was the first time in decades that alcohol was served at the fair.
The chicken costume contest was a totally new idea.
The costume contest was organized mainly by Pinnie Sears, who raises “exhibition poultry” — chickens that appear in shows with judges — “which is a totally different thing than backyard chickens,” she said.
Sears’ best birds were not available Sunday because they were at a show in Bath, NY, she said. But she did have with here some of her “silkies” — chickens with fluffy, soft-looking feathers — most of them with blue ribbons on their cages.
The contest, which was on Saturday, had about 15 or 16 entrants, Sears said: about 12 kids age 12 or under, and three or four adults. Most of the costumes were made of cardboard, with a hole for the chicken’s head. Some of the kids did not have their own chickens but were allowed to enter costumes which were then modeled on Sears’ chickens.
The winning costume was shaped like a pirate’s ship with a crow’s nest, Sears said. Others included a tuxedo with a top hat, a garden gnome and a mermaid whose 8-year-old designer also dressed up as a mermaid.
This was the first chicken costume contest at the Franklin County Fair. Sears said that it went well, but that she already has ideas of how to improve it for next year. For one thing, she said, she would like to have a craft table with materials to make costumes, so that kids could make costumes and enter on the day of the contest.
The contest was sponsored by mypetchicken.com, an online store that sells supplies for raising chickens. All participants received a bag of seeds to grow “chicken salad,” a food for chickens, Sears said.
The fair’s beer garden represented the first time since the 1980s that alcohol has been served at the fair, beer garden Director Nelson said.
“It’s been extremely popular. People are very happy to have it back,” he said.
The beer garden was deliberately designed to not be a “beer tent,” Nelson said.
Organizers wanted it to be easily accessible and open to the rest of the fair, so that customers could quickly buy a drink and bring it while they walked around the fair, Nelson said.
All drinks were $7. Part of the proceeds went to the fairgrounds for a landscaping project, Nelson said.
Nelson attributed the success of the beer garden to the current popularity of local beer and customer demand for alcohol at the fair.
Of the breweries represented at the beer garden, Berkshire Brewing Company was the largest, Nelson said.
Gary Bogoff, one of the founders of Berkshire Brewing Company, said that the Franklin County Fair is one of the largest events the company has participated in. “People are very happy to see beer and wine at the fair,” Bogoff said.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ext. 261.