HUNTERDON: Looking back at past county fairs

Newspaperman to show photos in teaser for real event

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
An ice cream social for "teens and tweens" this Sunday afternoon at Flemington Park kicks off the August calendar of the Hunterdon Tricentennial, which has another full slate of events in store.
The ice cream social, set for 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Flemington Park, will feature lawn games, ice cream sodas and the chance to "make your own sundae." Admission is free to the event, which is sponsored by the Hunterdon Dairy Princess and the 4-H Club’s Junior Leaders.
Longtime county newspaperman Terry Wright, a member of the county Agricultural Fair and 4H Fair Committees, will give a free presentation on the history of the Flemington Fair, also known as the Hunterdon County Fair, on Wednesday, Aug. 6, from 7 to 9 p.m., in the assembly room of the county complex building No. 1 on Route 12. This event is two weeks before this year’s fair, which starts Aug. 20, and will include historical photographs in the Power Point presentation.
Another of the month’s interesting events is "Story Songs of History." Gordon Thomas Ward will sing, play a variety of instruments and tell tales about the Lenni-Lenape tribe that used to inhabit Hunterdon County, the soldiers of the Revolutionary War, the Rockabye Railroad that once ran out of Whitehouse, and more. Admission is free. Mr. Ward will appear at the main branch of the county library on Route 12 in Raritan Township from 2 to 4 p.m.
Historian Sal DeSapio will discuss the Lenni-Lenape tribe and its involvement with Hunterdon in "Kingwood’s Hidden Past: The Lenni-Lenape Indians" at the North Branch of the county library, at 65 Halstead St. in Clinton, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 27. Admission is free.
"The best way for people to find out about upcoming events is to sign up for our blog or other social media on the home page of our website, http://www.hunterdon300th.org," said tricentennial committee chairperson Marcia Karrow. "If they don’t want to do that, they can monitor our website daily to see when tickets become available, but there is advance notice via social media and it is the best way to find out about all of our events, plus special things that will be happening."
If people don’t have email, the committee holds back a small percentage of tickets for walk-ins to its headquarters in the Flemington Choir School building at 3 Chorister Place, Flemington. It is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.