SPRINGFIELD: Events celebrating farming near

By Jen Samuel, Managing Editor
   SPRINGFIELD — The Burlington County Farm Fair is returning to the township for the second consecutive year.
   The historic Farm Fair has taken place throughout Burlington County — including during the Civil War — for decades. It will celebrate local farming while highlighting such animals as horses, milking cows and dogs.
   The event is scheduled from July 18 to July 21 at the Burlington County Fair Grounds, on Route 206, located one mile from the Columbus Farmers Market, in Springfield Township. The county owns the 640-acre fairgrounds — which was purchased by the Burlington County Freeholders back in 2005.
   Day and evening activities are planned.
   The Farmers Fair will include amusements, an antique tractor show, pony rides, 4-H competitions and displays, scavenger hunts and puppet shows. There will also be a History Faire.
   It is anticipated that 60,00 to 70,000 people will attend the fair over next week, according to Paul Shinn, president of the Burlington County Farm Fair and Central Jersey Tractor Pullers Association.
   The fair is free, and there is a $10 donation fee for parking.
   There will be tractor rides available for visitors and farm animals will be on display — including goats and pigs.
   Mr. Shinn, called the fair a “good family event.”
Tractor Parade
   Prior to the fair, the Tractor Parade will return for its second year — slated to cover 35 miles within the area — on July 15.
   It is sponsored by the Central Jersey Tractor Pullers Association.
   This year’s theme is “Salute to our Troops.” It is set to feature approximately 75 tractors. The parade will leave from the Burlington County Fair Grounds in Springfield at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
   It is estimated that the parade will arrive at McGuire Air Force Base at 11 a.m., according to Mr. Shinn, who spoke to the Register-News on Tuesday.
   Volunteer Debbie Abrams, a member of the Central Jersey Tractor Pullers Association, said the that there may be as many as 100 tractors participating in Sunday’s parade. The route will travel through Wrightstown, New Egypt, and Mansfield, among other townships, according to Ms. Abrams.
   She estimated that the parade would last more than four hours.
   As for the Burlington County Farm Fair, Burlington County Historian Joseph Laufer said there have been two phases of fairs in the county’s history.
   The first county Farm Fair Was held in 1847 and continued until 1926, he said.
   ”Most of those where held in the Mount Holly Fair Grounds, where the shopping center is now,” he noted.
   ”There was an interruption during the Depression and World War II,” Mr. Laufer said.
   The Farm Fair then started up again in 1946 and has continued on since. “This will be the 146th fair,” Mr. Laufer said, counting both phases, in Burlington County’s history.
   For more on the history of the Farm Fair in Burlington County, pick up next week’s issue of the Register-News.
   For details of the July 15 Tractor Parade, visit www.cjtpa.org.
   To learn more about the Burlington County Farm Fair, visit www.burlingtoncountyfarmfair.com.