There is an old Northeast Kingdom joke that once the Danville Fair is over it could start snowing at any time. So far so good. This early August event, its 79th year, has been a pillar of summer time in Danville, VT, and the surrounding Caledonia County communities. For most Caledonians the Danville Fair is the unofficial start to fair season, with the three big county fairs (Orleans County Fair – Aug. 19th-23rd | Caledonia County Fair – Aug. 26th-30th | Champlain Valley Fair – Aug. 29th – Sept. 7th) following behind it.
The Danville Fair, small in comparison to the big county fairs, is an intimate occasion. With a parade focused on local farmers and associations you get a great feel for the community, and a taste of their dry and sometimes sardonic humor. One parade “float” was a boy pedaling a toy tractor that pulls a sign reading “With the low price of milk and the high costs production, this is the only tractor we can afford to run!!”
You run into friends that you saw yesterday or haven’t seen since the last fair. Live music, Bingo, high calorie fair food, great weather and the usual assortment of games and rides made the 79th Danville Fair a great Kingdom summer day.