Great Experiences with the Chenango County Fair – Lane Anderson

0:01
Hi, this is Lane Anderson. And I’m from Norwich, New York, and I wanted to talk about my involvement in the Fair. And the times – the good times that I had enjoying it, especially as a kid. I can remember going to the Fair as a kid, enjoying every minute of it with my parents and my sister, the rides, and all the action that was going on as a kid, it was a real eye opener.

0:30
And so I continued on and enjoyed it through high school years. And then after high school, I worked, got a job with what they call a Handy Sound Service. And we serviced and went and toured fairs, and community events, and carnivals throughout New York State. And we did electrical and sound work. And this was in the middle 60s. And as a kid just coming out of high school, I met a lot of really interesting folks, and really enjoyed my time traveling the state. And the involvement with everybody and carnival and fair life.

1:16
And many years later, of course, we went to the Fair with my kids. And they certainly had a great time there. And as my kids went into high school, I wound up becoming president of the band parents’ organization. And at that time, the band parents was parking cars at the Fair. And we did that for probably about five years. And the band parents were paid by the Fair organization to park cars. And of course, it was a zoo down there parking cars. But everybody had a good time, the band was able to make some money to travel and buy uniforms and the like.

2:07
And then later on, I was asked to join the Fair Board as one of the nine directors. And that was around the middle 80s. And so I agreed. And I was on the Fair Board for 18 years, and enjoyed pretty much most of that time. And that time we did security for the Fair, we all had jobs that we had to do.

2:42
So I did security and worked with buildings and grounds to keep things going and met a lot of very interesting people there. We did stage shows, you know, cattle shows you name it, took care of all the people that came in the vendors that were there. And again, I met a lot of really interesting people and had a lot of good times there. And again, I was there for 18 years.
3:16
And also at that time, I was also on the Norwich Town board for 22 years. So it was kind of a challenging few years that we were involved. But like all things I decided to retire from not only the Fair Board but also the town board after all these years and turn it over to somebody else who was a little younger. And you know they could enjoy their time there.

3:52
Some of my best memories of the Fair is watching the kids having such a good time and the adults also. But the kids are, you know, going to the rides, having a good time, you know, the laughing, and some in some cases, the crying, and having to stop the rides to you know, to take the kids off. But the greatest ride I think most of the really young kids have is the merry-go-round. And they really enjoyed that ride. And it was fun watching the adults also going through the exhibition hall and looking at the flowers and with the vendors and everything else. So it’s been a great experience for me and I’ve enjoyed it all. So I wish all the fairs in New York state and the Chenango County Fairs the best in the future.