Punkintown Fair

Posted by Shaun on July 29th, 2005 filed in Travel

We went out with Mike, Amy and Huafei to the Punkintown Fair last night. It is a very small, rural fair put on by the New Salem Fire Department. If you have ever been to a firemen’s fair then you wouldn’t be surprised when you went to this one. It is a small annual fair that they put on to raise money for the firemen and for the locals to enjoy the summer weather. They have tastey, cheap food, home baked goods for sale and a number of carnival style games for kids. There are a few rides and a slide.

With a name like Punkintown I had no choice but to do some research online. I found an article in the Times Union paper regarding New Salem and the Punkintown Fair. According to the article:

The name of the fair is believed to be derived from New Salem’s original name — Punkintown. During the hamlet’s early years, a great deal of acreage was used for the harvesting of pumpkins.

Overall we had a good time. We ate some excellent clam chowder (red kind), pizza, cheese fries, sausage & peppers, and fried dough. Not the healthiest meal, but pretty good. We weren’t going to spend the entire night there so we didn’t partake in the Budweiser beer garden, but it was there and available. Amy bought a few raffle tickets. We should know by the end of the weekend if she won anything. First prize was a 3 day, 4 night trip someplace and second price was a patio set. I almost forgot that we bought an apple pie for $5 and some brownies for $0.50. Not bad.