Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Volume 16, Issue 45
Out in the snow
Durham Fair to open Thursday in 2010 By Chris Coughlin Special to the Town Times
Town Times photo by Stephanie Wilcox
Friday, Februar y 19, 2010
The Durham Fair lives and dies by weather reports. Over the past couple of years admission prices at the Durham Fair have risen and people are now being charged for parking that has always been free. These changes were implemented to raise new revenue for a fair whose overall success can almost entirely be predicted based on the weather forecast for the weekend. This was very clear in 2008 when the Durham Fair had to dip into its savings for $500,000 to cover the losses associated with the heavy rainfall on that fair weekend. Since then, the Durham Fair Association (DFA) has been looking for other sources of revenue for the fair in order to protect against huge loses, and
one popular idea that emerged would be to have the Durham Fair begin on Thursday night. A DFA meeting was held in the high school auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 11, to discuss and vote on the idea of adding an extra day to the Durham Fair for 2010. Gene Chiappetta, president of the DFA, addressed the audience, consisting entirely of DFA members, to explain the reasoning behind adding an extra day and to report on what happened when the DFA went to each department of the Fair with this proposal. Although this represents a big change, most departments reported that they would be able to accommodate pushing everything forward one day. Many of the departments who foresaw an issue with opening early have resolved the problem, and other departments were working towards
their own solutions. There is already a long list of possible events for Thursday night, including: A demolition derby. “It would be Durham Post Office style,” joked Chiappetta, “like Saturday mornings at the post office.” Holding the Giant Pumpkin Top 10 weigh-in A battle of the bands A special ceremony to recognize a volunteer from each department Fireworks An on-grounds parade A “Local Idol” contest A “Taste of the Fair” event with a coupon book A presentation on exhibit judging Rearranging the midway and having ride specials A time lapse show of the setup (“From a Lawn to a City”)
See Durham Fair, page 3
Washington walked here By Trish Dynia Special to the Town Times
Photo by Jen Schulten
This resident snowman on Burt Drive in Middlefield found it hard to believe – six more weeks of winter! Photo submitted by Marc
It’s become something of a joke to add plaques to older structures asserting “Washington slept here.” No such local claim to fame exists, but is certain that George Washington did indeed walk here. In 1932, as cities and towns throughout the United States celebrated the bicentennial of George Washington’s birthday (February 22, 1732), Durham and Wallingford joined forces to commemorate two journeys the father of our country made through Connecticut, by placing markers along the route.
In this issue ... Calendar ........................4 Libraries ......................16 Obituary ......................18 Puzzles .........................16 Sports ......................20-23 Spotlight ......................19 Town Briefs ...12, 14 & 15
According to local history book, Century of Change, Durham, Connecticut 1866 to 1980, Washington left Wallingford and “entered Durham by a road that came over the mountain called Three Notches at the southwest side of town. He then travelled northerly on David Road to Parmelee Hill Road, then easterly on Parmelee Hill Road to Route 17 and to Main Street, then northerly on Main Street to Middletown.” Eleven memorial markers were placed in Durham to commemorate Washington’s travels through town and their locations appear at the end of this article. In all, Washington travelled through the state six times during his life, two of which brought him through Durham. When the Second Continental Congress appointed Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, he set out from Philadelphia on June 23, 1775, passed through Durham on Thursday, June 29
and arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 3 to take charge of his new command. There is no record of him stopping in Durham on this trip, but local lore indicates that he may have eaten at the Swathel Inn, formerly located at the northwest corner of Route 17 and Route 147, where Valero now stands. At the time, the inn was a common stop along the New York to Boston route. Arriving passengers generally satisfied their appetites for food and drink while the drivers changed horses. So….. maybe.
On Monday, October 19, 1789, Washington again passed through Durham via the same route from Wallingford, on what became known as his “Eastern States Tour.” The nation’s first, and very reluctant, president had taken the oath of office just a few months earlier, on April 30 in New York City, and embarked on this
See Washington, page 6