Friday, August 9, 2019
www.towntimes.com
Volume 23, Number 19
Fair’s centennial plans are well underway By Everett Bishop Town Times
The 100th Durham Fair runs Thursday, Sept. 26 to Sunday, Sept. 29, and planning for the event has been ongoing since 2016, starting with the creation of the 100th fair committee.
At the Durham Farmers Market, Diane St. John, of NatureWorks, educates visitors on the life cycle of monarch butterflies and how to attract them. Photos by Everett Bishop, Town Times
NatureWorks brings butterflies to Durham Farmers Market By Everett Bishop Town Times
Visitors at a recent farmers market in Durham found produce, live music, lemonade and even a few monarch butterflies courtesy of NatureWorks of Northford. Suzanne Hauselt and Diane St. John, two NatureWorks employees, set up a table where visitors could see the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. In various trays, they had eggs, caterpillars and adult butterflies for people to view. “We don’t have any chrysalises because they’re a bit harder to transport,” said Hauselt. NatureWorks is a retail store and landscaping company that also teaches people how to create and care for their gardens without using harm-
One of the goals of the committee was to redesign The new logo to celebrate the fair’s logo for this year’s centennial celebra- the 100th Durham Fair. tion. “We had to think: ‘What do we want to do for our logo?’,” said Karen Conway, first vice president of the Durham Agricultural Fair Association. “We decided that we wanted to stick with our current logo theme. We wanted the 100th to be memorable to the folks involved with the fair and the patrons who go to the fair.” The final logo re-design reflects slight changes, keeping the emblem familiar, while giving a nod to the fair’s anniversary. Conway said an array of memorabilia has been made to celebrate the occasion, including pins, Tshirts and posters.
The monarch butterflies brought to the Durham Farmers Market by NatureWorks.
ful pesticides. The small exhibit was part of NatureWorks efforts to educate people on the importance of butterflies in their gardens and in the ecosystem. Butterflies act as a food source
for other animals and as a pollinator. “We like to show the life cycle of it because people really care about this butterfly,” See Market, A13
The committee also is working to create the Everlasting Tribute; a patio being constructed around the flagpoles at the fairgrounds. “We’re having a patio that is being done where people can sit,” said Debbie Huscher, marketing coor-
dinator for the fair, adding that a fundraiser for the project gives people an opportunity to purchase personalized bricks to be included in the patio construction. Conway said the tribute “provides permanence to the event.” Huscher said that the fair is “one of the largest, all volunteer fairs” in the country. This year, there could be as many as 1,700 volunteers doing their part. Huscher said the fair association expects about 200,000 people at the fair each year, and the anniversary turnout could be even greater. Some $100,000 in prize money is expected to be awarded to exhibitors. Huscher said there will be “special categories” to commemorate the centennial. Entertainment for the See Fair, A12