Fair Brings Out Old, Young and Unusual By Mandy Sayle Features Editor Drawn by the lure of great food, carnival rides and a 725-pound pig, thousands flocked to the Durham Fair over the weekend.

MANDY SAYLE An aerial view of the Durham Fair, taken from the top of the Paratroopers Ride.

Parking spaces were scarce and expensive, so many of the fairgoers opted to park far away from the fairgrounds and ride a shuttle to the entrance. Upon arrival, after purchasing their seven-dollar entrance tickets, they were free to explore the immense facility, hosting the largest agricultural fair in Connecticut.

Judy Moeckel, a Killington resident, was working in the ticket booth. This was her fifteenth year working at the Durham Fair.

"I used to live in Durham ...I used to hear the noise from the fair at night, and I was intrigued, so I called up and volunteered," she said.

Once inside the gate, the first stop for most fairgoers was a large tent where various business owners had set up booths. Some sold t-shirts, some hand-painted signs, and one even hosted a television-style cooking show. But perhaps the biggest draw was Floyd Emerson’s handwriting analysis booth.

Emerson has been working at various fairs, including the Durham Fair and the Delaware Fair in Oneonta, NY, for several years. His handwriting analysis machine is a huge computer that looks like it’s straight out of 1960 and actually got its start at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY. To use the machine, Emerson inserts a card on which the client has written his name and zodiac sign, and the machine spits out any or all of three cards detailing the client’s personality, horoscope, or love style.

"I’m retired. I just [work at fairs] for three months a year to stay out of my wife’s kitchen," Emerson said.

The exit doors of the tent opened onto the main attraction for most of the younger fairgoers - the carnival rides. These rides included the Skymaster, which consists of two rocket-shaped cars that swing upside down, the Zipper, a ride much like a Ferris Wheel except that the individual cars spin upside down, the Superslide, an enormous slide that one goes down on a towel, the ever-popular Tilt-A-Whirl, Gravitron and Ferris Wheel, among others. For the less ambitious (or more weak-stomached) there were carnival games and fun houses.

Past the carnival rides lay the food court, offering everything from barbecued chicken to fried dough, from gyros to chocolate covered bananas. According to Cindy Verma, a Stratford resident, the food is the best part of the fair. Verma especially enjoyed the stuffed mushrooms and lobster rolls.

The downside to the food court is that it was sandwiched between the carnival rides and the livestock tents, which emanate a decidedly unappetizing aroma. However, the livestock tents are a fun and popular element of the fair, with tents devoted to beef and dairy cattle, rabbits, poultry and of course swine.

The swine booth was entertaining, but did not house the 725-pound pig advertised on the fair’s brochure. There was a gargantuan 500-pound pig, but many were disappointed after expectations had been built up so high.

Sixteen-year-old Torrington residents Mike Bystryk and Blair Morin worked on the Swine Committee and the Sheep Committee, respectively.

"We do whatever the [supervisor] tells us, we help out with the shows and everything," Morin said.

For Morin, the best part of the fair is when the fairgoers leave and the workers have the entire facility to themselves for the night.

"[It’s cool because] you’re all by yourself out here with no parental guidance," he said.

Other attractions were the amateur photography exhibit, the pie-eating contest, the tractor pull and the pig races. Also, fairgoers could listen to live music all day at the Main Stage, which included such big-name acts as Loretta Lynn, who played on Friday night, and 38 Special, who headlined on Saturday.

Altogether, fairgoers seemed to enjoy themselves.

"I think the Zipper and the chocolate covered bananas were the best part of the fair. They were definitely worth coming here and paying an absurd amount of money to get in," said Sam Smith ’01. "There was so much there. I loved the rides and the food and the cows. It was extreme."