Fair & Festival Glossary
Plain-English definitions of real fair and festival terminology, from lumberjack competitions to the midway.
- Lumberjack CompetitionA series of timed woodsmen skill contests like crosscut sawing, log rolling, axe throwing, and speed chopping, common at Connecticut fall agricultural fairs.
- Fair MidwayThe midway is the section of a fair lined with carnival rides, games of skill, and food vendors, the liveliest, most photographed strip of any county fair.
- 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) whose county-fair exhibits — livestock showmanship, baking, sewing, crafts — are judged competitions, not just displays.
- Home ArtsHome arts is the traditional fair-judging category for domestic and craft skills — baking, canning, sewing, quilting, 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 — blue for first, red for second, white for third — a convention that dates to 19th-century state and county fairs.
- Midway GamesMidway games are the skill-based carnival stalls on a fair's midway — ring toss, balloon darts, water-gun races — distinct from rides, and typically played for a small prize rather than a ride ticket.