WINDSOR — This town will be fairly busy during the next nine days.
The Windsor Fair kicks off Sunday for more than a week of demolition derbies, both animal and vehicle weight-pulling contests, carnival rides, fair food, agricultural demonstrations, monster truck shows and entertainment including disco and country bands and a family of illusionists.
This year, for the first time, the fair will have a half-price day, Wednesday, when admission to the fair will be half-price, at $4, and rides on the fair midway also will be half their usual price. Wednesday also will feature a fireworks show, at 9 p.m.
“Wednesday has typically been a slower day, so we thought we might entice a few more people to come then,” Tom Foster, 26-year president of the annual fair, said in explaining the reason fair officials decided to offer the reduced-price day this year. “We thought it’d be a good thing to try. If we can benefit from it, and the public benefits from it, then we both win.”
Children 15 and younger get into the fair free every day, and the fair does not charge for parking, which Foster said is a result of fair organizers trying to keep the fair affordable for families. They also, he said, try to have something for just about everybody.
This year that includes new additions to the fair’s offerings such as Grand Illusions by the Blooms — magician John Steven Bloom; his wife, Chance; and their four daughters, all of them illusionists — who have performed internationally, including a performance with rock star Alice Cooper. Foster said the group’s performances at fairs are so popular they had to book the group for this year’s performance two years ago.
Also new this year is an animated dinosaur that will roam around the fairgrounds over the Labor Day weekend, giving attendees a chance to get up and close and personal — and perhaps pose for a photograph — with the baby T-Rex.
Harness horse racing remains a major attraction at the fair, with betting taking place alongside the grandstands beside the race track.
Among the racing horses this year is Foiled Again, which Foster said is probably the most famous harness racing horse alive and is on its “farewell tour” of the racing circuit. The 14-year-old horse is expected to race on Labor Day, which is the last day of the annual fair.
The horse has won 100 races and more than $7.5 million in purses. It was named the 2011 Pacer of the Year.
“In the horse business, he’s a legend,” Foster said.
Something new to the Windsor Historical Society Museum complex at the fair is actually quite old: a working sawmill built in the late 1800s and donated to the society by an Albion resident. Volunteers had to figure out how to put the sawmill, which hadn’t operated since around 1990, together and back into operation. It’s ready to cut logs during the fair.
Musical acts this year include disco and funk band Motor Booty Affair, the Mainely Country Band, country and classic rock act Sharon Hood and Dixon Road, Walter Weymouth, Gelina and Pikes Mainely Grass, Steve and the Good Ol Boys, and the Court Jesters.
Demolition derbies are planned for Sunday and Thursday, and monster truck shows for Sept. 1-2.
Animal pulling, showing and other competitions are sprinkled throughout the fair’s nine-day run.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
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