Weather doesn't deter more than 35,000 visitors to Sandwich Fair

SANDWICH — The Sandwich Fair attracted tens of thousands of visitors this weekend, who packed the small Carroll County town on the northern side of Lake Winnipesaukee.

The fair, slated for Columbus Day weekend annually, started out as an agricultural event nearly 140 years ago, and those roots are still apparent today. Farmers display livestock like sheep, horses and cows, and compete in activities like tractor and horse pulls. 

Fair President Bryan Peaslee said Tuesday organizers counted at least 35,000 visitors to the fair this year, with Saturday hosting the most at 18,000, another 15,500 on Sunday, and 3,500 stragglers on Monday. Many of them were enamored by events like the tractor pull.

One of the competitors in the event, where contestants use tractors of exactly the same weight to pull a massive machine across a dirt track, was 18-year-old Herluf Johnson, of Glover, Vermont.

He made the trip down to try his luck at the tractor pull, a sport he’s found considerable success in, despite his youth. Competing in the 5,500-pound weight class — confirmed by a pre-race weigh in — Johnson had high hopes.

Johnson is surely on the younger end of the competition, but he’s no novice. He started competing about two years ago, at age 16, and has since won somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 trophies, 10 of which are first-place awards. Hailing from a farm family, Johnson got into the sport with the help of a neighbor. Now, he competes about 12 times a year.

“I’ve done pretty good with this,” he said moments before driving his tractor — a 1951 Oliver 77 — down to the track. Competitors back their tractors up to the large drag sled and couple to the front of a platform which digs into the ground as it is pulled, making the job increasingly difficult as the tractor moves along.

Numerous competitors saw their tractors rise on the front end, as their engines struggled against the massive weight towed behind them.

Johnson pulled the sled 122.78 feet, but was disqualified by a judge due to an apparent “mechanical failure.”

Admission to the fair allows visitors to take advantage of the midway, complete with dozens of exhilarating rides and a ferris wheel, plus helicopter rides, at this year’s event.

“We’re trying to keep the fair what it is,” Peaslee said when asked if organizers did anything differently this year. Though they did offer electronic payment and refigured some of the parking, the core remained the same: a celebration of New Hampshire’s agricultural tradition, with additional attractions for people of all ages and backgrounds.

It’s his fourth fair as president, though he’s been involved with the event his entire life, previously serving on the board of directors, at one point running the tractor pull.

On Sunday afternoon, a long parade traversed the fairgrounds and featured musical groups, classic cars, horses and the Inter-Lakes High School marching band.

Monday, due to concerns regarding weather, a freestyle motocross event was canceled, leaving organizers in need of a replacement event to keep people engaged. They found their golden ticket with a new event: a truck pull of stone boats, similar to the horse pull, except these horses were made of iron.

It went off without a hitch.

“People were packed there until the day was over, it was really awesome,” Peaslee said.

Keeping with tradition, while pivoting to overcome challenges, is old hat at the Sandwich Fair.

“Holy crap, what was just born here?” Peaslee wondered after the truck pull proved a big hit. “It’s gotta be busy, and it’s gotta be fun.”

For Peaslee and the board, the weekend was a success. They’re focused on keeping it clean and easy for visitors to come and enjoy themselves while they’re there. They’ll make a list of potential improvements for next year — likely parking — in the coming months, during planning meetings. It takes essentially all year to bring it all together.

“The fair went amazing.”

There was a minor controversy surrounding a pie contest however, possibly the lone stone in the weekend’s shoe. A Tamworth resident named Dylan Chick said she entered a blueberry pie with the phrase “resist facism” cut into the crust. That pie actually won third prize, before an unidentified pie contest judge covered it with paper, calling it “offensive.”

“I feel like it’s an American statement, and not controversial whatsoever,” Chick, an eight-year pie contest veteran, said Tuesday afternoon.

The pie was accepted into the competition and judged before apparently winning the award, but was subsequently covered up on Sunday.

“There was really nothing offensive about it,” Chick said. 

Baked goods at the contest are auctioned off with proceeds donated to a food pantry, Chick said, but a contest organizer refused to facilitate the auction of her pie. A buyer was apparently successful in making a donation for the pie during the auction, and received the pie from Chick personally afterward. 

“In the end, I made sure that she got the pie.

“It feels like censorship from one side,” Chick said, noting apparel depicting Charlie Kirk was available for purchase at the fair. “Our country has fought wars against fascism.”

Peaslee said Tuesday fair directors take any and all complaints about offensive content or politics seriously, and will address them head-on. If they make a mistake, they’ll take that head-on, too, he said, noting their goal is to foster an environment at the fair free from politics, so all may enjoy their experience. He welcomed constructive criticism.

“We try to do our absolute best.”