Columbus Day weekend is here, and that means it’s time for the Riverhead Country Fair.
The fair, which is celebrating its 41st year this Sunday, is an annual ritual for local farmers, craftsmen, bakers and vegetable decorators who hope to snag a prize in one of the fair’s many contest categories.
Hundreds of vendors and food trucks from all across Long Island will be selling their wares on Main Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic for the event. There will also be a carnival.
The event draws thousands of people to downtown Riverhead each year.
One of the largest festivals in all of New York State, the roots of the Riverhead Country Fair go back much further than 41 years – all the way to the 1840s, when the fair was first started by Riverhead Townscape. It was held every year after that until the Great Depression, when it was held “only erratically” until a group of residents decided in 1976 to resurrect the event, according to the late longtime coordinator of the fair, Jim Lull.
The county fair, hosted by the Riverhead Agricultural Society, had been held on property that came to be known as the fair grounds, just north of Pulaski Street. A good portion of it is now owned by the Riverhead Central School District, which acquired title during the Depression and built the Pulaski Street School, then a new high school, as a project of the WPA, Lull told RiverheadLOCAL in a 2010 interview.
The fair will open at 10 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. on Sunday.
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