Start your Bondville Fair weekend with Ida Mae Specker’s high-energy fiddle and folk performance on the main stage.
THE HISTORY OF THE BONDVILLE FAIR…
In 1791 the Town of Winhall received its state charter which, among many other things, specified that the Town could have two fairs each year. The Town was incorporated in 1796 with the first Bondville Fair being held the following year.
The Fair was held one day each October, and, after the National Grange was established in 1867, Grange Day in the Spring became the other offering.
In its earliest years, the Fair was held at the Monteverde Hotel, west of the present post office. Foot races and horse races were run through the village, introduced by a band from Manchester. Then the Fair moved eastward, to the site of the current Outback Restaurant. It moved to its present location in the 20's, when Floral Hall was built. The Dance/Crafts Hall was added in the 30's, and other facilities through the 1980’s. The newest structures are the sugar house (1999) and the schoolhouse (2000).
Life was hard for families on the Vermont mountain farms pre-WWII, so you can imagine how people looked forward to the annual Bondville Fair. It brought in a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, square dancing, games of chance, a horse pull, agricultural and handcraft exhibits, and yes, a girlie show (for men 18 and older), and a lot of hard drinking.
In fact, the Bondville Fair was known state-wide as a pretty wild affair. During Prohibition homemade hard cider of a lethal potency was passed around freely. However, the 1960's brought sobriety to the Fair and exile for the girlies.
Many folks over the years have worked hard to preserve the tradition of our Fair. In the last sixty years we are grateful to Win Hosley, Louie Roberts, Walter Rawson, Sprague Lyons, David Glabach, Robert Vail, John Angermeyer, and currently Scott Bushee, as our hardworking presidents of the Winhall Industrial Society, the sponsor of the Fair. Under its guidance and through the work of many devoted volunteers, the buildings and grounds have been maintained and added to. New activities appear each year, designed to appeal to children and adults of all ages.
But one thing has not changed. Competition for those trophies, blue ribbons and rosettes is as fierce as it ever was, even two hundred years ago.
