Mick Maguire, left, of Tunbridge, Vt. and Ernest Kennedy, of Chelsea, Vt. are storekeepers on Antique Hill at the Tunbridge World Fair. Working in the store, they have the opportunity to meet a lot of people and also see many familiar faces from years past. "The importance of it is that people enjoy it," Mr. Maguire says. (Valley News - John Happel) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Mick Maguire, left, of Tunbridge, Vt. and Ernest Kennedy, of Chelsea, Vt. are storekeepers on Antique Hill at the Tunbridge World Fair. Working in the store, they have the opportunity to meet a lot of people and also see many familiar faces from years past. "The importance of it is that people enjoy it," Mr. Maguire says. (Valley News - John Happel) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Tunbridge — Some come to the Tunbridge World’s Fair to share their fascination with a certain historical period. Others are looking to pass along traditional skills they fear could become extinct, such as hand quilting or bobbin lacing.

Often they return year after year to take part in re-enactments or demonstrate their crafts at Antique Hill, a place the fair’s former longtime president said sets the four-day event apart.

A living time capsule on the upper level of the fairgrounds, the hill is home to nine buildings, including a museum, sugarhouse and blacksmith shop, where visitors can peruse the collections or check out living history exhibits.

“We are the only fair in Vermont to do something like this,” and it brings in a lot of people, especially older people who like to come and reminisce, said Euclid Farnham, who serves as the fair’s postmaster, a role he took on following his 31-year tenure as president. “It brings home their past to them.”

Like the historical demonstrations, the museum has been part of the fair since 1929. Over the decades, its collection has grown, thanks to donations, such as a set of antique irons, a gift from a Strafford woman, Farnham said. Consequently, space has become an issue.

“We’ve reached the point where we’re pretty nearly full,” he said.

On Antique Hill last weekend, fairgoers were doing some collecting of their own.

This was a record year for postcard sales at the fair, and the 2016 commemorative wooden postcard “absolutely flew out,” said Farnham, noting that the cards depicting fair scenes, six so far, have become collectibles. “We sold every single one.”

Waiting on customers from the restored facade of the town’s original post office, he also caught up with visitors and demonstrators.

“The fun part of the whole thing is you basically see all the people you haven’t seen since last year” and wind up going over what happened during the year, he said. “It’s really a neat thing.”

At the fair, chatter on the job is encouraged.

“One of the things that we urge the re-enactors to do is talk to people,” said Farnham, whose wife and fellow fair volunteer, Priscilla, organizes the 30 or 40 people who demonstrate their crafts. “It makes the whole thing come alive.”