Fair & Festival Glossary
Plain-English definitions of real fair and festival terminology, from lumberjack competitions to the midway.
- Lumberjack CompetitionTimed woodsmen skill contests such as crosscut sawing, log rolling, axe throwing, and speed chopping. Connecticut fairs with woodsmen events: Goshen, Harwinton, and Riverton.
- Fair MidwayThe midway is the section of a fair lined with carnival rides, games of skill, and food vendors.
- GrangeThe Grange (National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry) is a fraternal agricultural organization founded in 1867. Local Grange halls still run several small Connecticut fairs.
- Oxen DrawAn oxen draw (or ox pull) is a competition where a yoked team of oxen drags a progressively heavier weighted sledge or stone boat as far as possible within a set distance.
- 4-H4-H is a national youth development organization (Head, Heart, Hands, Health). At county fairs its members enter judged livestock, baking, sewing, and craft exhibits.
- Home ArtsHome arts is the traditional fair-judging category for domestic and craft skills: baking, canning, sewing, quilting, and flower arranging, judged separately from livestock and produce.
- Demolition DerbyA demolition derby is a motorsport event where drivers deliberately crash stripped-down cars into each other; the last vehicle still able to move under its own power wins.
- Blue RibbonA blue ribbon is the traditional first-place award at American agricultural fair judging, with blue for first, red for second, and white for third.
- Midway GamesMidway games are the skill-based carnival stalls on a fair's midway, such as ring toss, balloon darts, and water-gun races, separate from the rides. Winners usually get a small prize.