LOCAL

Farm animals, doughboys and vaccines: The Brooklyn Fair is back after COVID hiatus

John Penney
The Bulletin

BROOKLYN - Madison Perkins sat inside a fragrant cattle barn on the Brooklyn Fairgrounds on Friday as the heat and humidity steadily rose to baking levels.

There was nowhere the 17-year-old North Stonington resident would rather have been.

Perkins, whose family owns the Redhead Farms livestock farm – the business is named for the hair color sported by her, her brother and father – paid her first visit to the long-running fair just two days after she was born and has been back every year since – except for when COVID-19 kept the gates closed last year.

Caelum Gervais, 8, of Danielson admires a monarch butterfly in the Butterfly Tent Friday during the second day of the Brooklyn Fair. The fair continues through Sunday. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]

“That was very weird, not being here,” she said, as the family's two beef show cattle, Cora and Kam, lazily flicked their tails.  “We’re usually out at fairs every weekend from May to October, so not being able to do that last year was a change. But things are getting back to normal.”

The fair, which opened Thursday night and will run through Sunday, was already getting busy Friday morning as attendees walked with plates of fried dough past a line of antique tractors and pens of lethargic sheep and donkeys.

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One-way entry signs and hand-washing stations greeted visitors to the fair’s main showcase buildings, additions aimed at encouraging social distancing and avoiding bottle-neck crowds. Brooklyn First Selectman Rick Ives sat under a large tent where COVID-19 vaccinations will be offered throughout the weekend.

“We held a similar clinic at the school on Aug. 2 and gave away free fair tickets to those that got vaccinated,” he said. ‘We had 25 people come through then and had three people on Thursday get their first shot here.”

Sisters Karen Mankowski, left, and Jessica Ringstee, both of Norwich, stay cool by an exhaust fan on the Better Living Building Friday during the second day of the Brooklyn Fair. Mankowski said of the heat and humidity "It's one of the hottest fairs we've been to." Ringstee added "We've never sweated like this before. " The fair continues through Sunday. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]

Ives said the clinic, a collaboration between the town and the Northeast District Department of Health, will have all three vaccinations – Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and the recently FDA-approved Pfizer versions - available and is able to provide second dose shots with a valid vaccination card. First-time patients will be provided with a card.

But it was the familiar entertainment that drew in most visitors – and the food. A queue of hungry guests lined up at the Danielson Elks stand where members Diane Wimmer and Bobby Brown served up plates of eggs, sausage and toast. The grill would later be repurposed to fry up steak sandwiches for the lunch and dinnertime rush.

Kamryn Forrest, top, helps her cousin, Avery Griffiths, both of Foster, R. I., pin the blue ribbon on the five-year-old's steer named Ollie Friday during the second day of the Brooklyn Fair. The fair continues through Sunday. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]

“This is one of our big fundraisers and lets us fund scholarships,” Wimmer said. “And the food is the best at the fair.”

Brown, a past exalted ruler of the group, said last year’s forced hiatus was tough to bear.

“It hurt, it hurt,” he said. “But things are coming back around slowly.”

If you go

What: Brooklyn Fair

When: Open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday; 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

More information: http://www.brooklynfair.org

The large Better Living Building featured vendors offering everything from shelves of elk jerky and candles to rain gutters and jewelry. Inside the Country Store and Museum, spaces held anvils, cider presses and a house sleigh near re-creations of a 1929 school room and post office.

Nick Casey of West Greenwich, R. I. sings old school country songs Friday during the second day of the Brooklyn Fair. The fair continues through Sunday. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]

Other guests roamed past stalls advertising hot dogs, “Xtreme” fried dough, clam fritters and loaded baked potatoes, while a few popped into the butterfly tent where 50 of the insects flitted around guests carrying sugar water-soaked wands.

Deb Lascaleia sat with a couple of friends on a shaded section of bleachers as the group finished a late breakfast. The Greene, R.I., resident said she’d been coming to the fair for the last several years until the 2020 interruption.

“It’s part of the summer,” Lascaleia said. “You get your fair food and see the agricultural displays, the kind of atmosphere we missed last year.

John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965