The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-02-25


 fairs are looking forward to a more prosperous future. At one of the largest and most enthusiastic annual meetings of the Association of Con- necticut Fairs held in Hartford, it was unanimously voted to continue the program adopted last year in orr der to make the fairs of this state more educational and of greater per- manency. The association, with member ship of morre than forty agricultural organizations, expressed satisfaction
 with the financial returns last year
 in the majority of cases. It was brought out that the agricultural fair should be an educational, finan- cial and profitable factor to the com munity and state and no effort should be spared to make the fairs of Connecticut accomplish these ends.
 S. Mclean Buckingham, state commissioner of agriculture, in speaking on the subject "Coordina- tione of Premium Lists," urged the fairs to remember that agriculture Is facing serious problems. The pres ent condition, he believes, can be all
 leviated to a large extent by the fairs in offering premiums or prizes that
 will guide the farmer out of his present dilemma.
 The fair, Commissioner Bucking- ham said, is primarily an educational institution in it's true sense, and in making up premium lists the offi- cers should endeavor to offer prizes consistent with the quality and de- mand of the present-day market. He congratulated. the fairs for already taking a step in this direction as the majority of them are now only al- | H,i of tnhQrCnl1 tested cattle which fits into the state program of eradicating tuberculosis | in the state of Connecticut. How ever, he said there was a chance | for the fairs to expand their serv- ices still further so that the prizes offered for fruits and vegetables Will be in accordance with standard grades and packages adopted Tor lConnecticut products.
 John E. Clifford, former secretary of the oldest agricultural fair in the country which recently closed up Its business, told of some fo the reasons why fairs failed and came out most emphatically in opposition to the dishonest concessionaire. He said that there was no place and no need at the agricultural fair for the crooked cut-throat gamblers as they added nothing and materially weak ened the public's faith in the insti- | tuition.
 Mir Clifford did not advise running 1 a fair without concessions but urged the fairs to have only good, clean 1 land reliable concession men. HerDeTI A. Cleaveland, president of Terryviiie
 Fair. supported MT Clifford in ms ms contention that the undesirab!es should not be allowed. on the grounds. He explained that their experience had been that it was not difficult to keep the undesirable ones away or to force them off the grounds if it was found necessary as the state law makes it possible to take necessary action in reference to gambling or indecent shows.
 "Keeping Our Fairs Abreast of the Times was the subject of talk by Glenn c. Sevey, editor of "The New England Homestead" MT sevey has probably had the opportunity or wlt. messing first hand the rise and fali of more fairs in New England than any other person and he urged tne association to take cognizance or the fact that times are changing ana that the successful fair must neces- sarily change its program in order to keep up to date. f.. MT Sevey told the fairs that Tn making such changes they shouiu not try to "ape" the large exposi- tion as they were serving an en- tirely different field. He advised them to look to the needs of their own immediate community ana build their fair program so that it
 would fulfill these requirements and then the fair would become a most influential factor and its success as- , sured.
 The oldest fair in the state-the windham County Agricultural so- ciety-was represented on the pro- gram by Mrs J. Dyer Potter who explained the benefits to be de- rived from a woman's department. Mrs Potter said that only two fairs in the state had distinctly separate women's departments directed en- tirely by women. At thees two fairs she said the women have their an- nual meetings and directors meet ings the same as the men and any change in their program which re- quiries the expenditure of larger sum of money is taken up directly with the board of directors of the fair, which is composed of both men and women. By having such a di-
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