The Great Danbury Fair, Part 2
Last month we visited the Great Danbury Fair for part 1 of a series of photos documenting that now-extinct piece of Americana. As I mentioned in that first post, the Danbury (Connecticut) Fair's final year was 1981; about 14 years before GDB friend Andrew was born!
First up, I love this general view of fairgoers wandering around the grounds, or sitting and enjoying some refreshments. Love the huge sign for Knickerbocker beer. "Ruppert" was Jacob Ruppert, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1899. Besides his brewery dealings, he and a partner purchased the New York Yankees in 1915 for about $12 million dollars in today's Spacebucks. He also brought Babe Ruth to the Yankees (from the Red Sox) in 1919. NOW YOU KNOW.
A house built out of one giant log? Land o' Goshen! Whoever heard of such a thing? The guys in the second photo of THIS POST, for one. I suppose it would be akin to living in a motor home, or sailboat. "Cozy" is the word that comes to mind. The young woman in white seems like she was charmed.
Another general view; I wonder what the "Fairy Godmother" attraction was? There's a fiberglass horse on top of that booth because...? And a beautiful car with heaps of cardboard containers, not sure if it has anything to do with the ice cream concession stand nearby.
Ah, nothing like an ice-cold glass of sweet apple cider when you're thirsty. Business is booming! Maybe you could get an apple cider float - cider and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Like liquid apple pie a la mode. I've never heard of such a thing and just invented it now. I'll be RICH.
On display was a beautiful steam-powered fire truck - it looks like it says it was "pony hitched", which looks right. "Carlson", in Cheshire, Connecticut. Does that mean anything to anybody? I wonder where this vehicle is today? The name Carson is also on that calliope (?) to the right.
Hires rootbeer, boy that takes me back. Remember "Dad's" rootbeer? I admit that I was a fan of A&W, and still buy it at the grocery store occasionally. In spite of the long sleeves and jackets, it must have been a warm October day in Connecticut.
As we leave, let's take one last look back and remember all the fun we had!
I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Great Danbury Fair.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
GDB friend Chuck Hansen generously sent me some photos of a one-log home, taken in June of 2010 at the National Thresher Show in Wauseon, Ohio. It may, or may not be the same one-log home as seen at the Danbury Fair. What do you think? (Note: I'm posting these in a hurry before I run out the door, but will check back in later today). THANKS, CHUCK!
25 comments:
Major-
Oh, the people-! I love the lady in the first image with the long white coat. And on the far right, the woman with the 'cool' blue/green framed glasses. The car with the "heaps of cardboard containers" is a 1968 Chevrolet . And to its right, is a 1961 Chevrolet. The fella standing in front of the giant Hires cup-? appears to have a Kodak Brownie Starmite camera slung over his shoulder.
Bye bye, 'The Great Danbury Fair'.
Thanks, major.
It doesn't look like there is much (if anything) behind that Fairy Godmother facade. Maybe it was a ride around the fair grounds in a pumpkin coach, pulled by horses? Santa's Village had an attraction like that.
Those containers and boxes are all empty and are just sitting there, waiting for Bu to pick them up and do something devious with them! ;-)
Log homes are real popular in my neck of the woods. But this is a real log home. What a cool idea. It's a shame this fair doesn't exist anymore. It looks like everyone is having a good time. I wonder if they serve Knickerbocker floats in the beer garden? Yum. Thanks for these great photos Major.
I bet we could build an apartment or condominium complex in the shape of a giant log cabin, just by stacking a bunch of those log houses on top of one another.
My guess is that that booth with the fiberglass horse on top sold glue or dog food.
The Carlson steam fire engine and calliope are intriguing - just the kind of small, steam-powered implements that can be more easily stored and restored by the "average" person than, say, a steam-powered locomotive, excavator, or lake freighter. I'm wondering if they belonged to Bob Carlson, a long-time steam preservationist who lived in Connecticut and recently passed away.
I'll take a look and see if I can find a picture of the one-log home I saw on tour years ago at the National Thresher Show. I'm curious to see if it's the same one.
Sorry, but I'm in the camp that liked Dad's Root Beer better! We used to sing a little song when I was younger - A and W Root Beer, is A and W, F U L!
That was fun, Major! I would go to the fair, just to see the vintage cars.
The women in white may be charmed but I'm rather attracted to the blond behind her either watching her step or reading her device.
Being able to read backwards was important if you wanted to find the Arena Gate.
Is that lady in line for Cider wearing all leather?
Thank you for the visit to the East coast. I don't get there very often.
Saturday is always more fun with a slice of Americana.
Zach
I loved all three of those root beers, Dad’s was least common, then Hires and A&W was everywhere. There was an A&W drive in in my hometown, the carhops hung a tray on your window, root beer came in frozen mugs. So much fun.
Looks like a fun fair, I think Chuck hit the jackpot here, same log. Must feel like a Keebler elf to live in that.
Thanks Major!
JG
Fun to see these pics. We moved out Arizona when I was only 3, so I had no experience with these kind of colorful localized fairs. Tucson had Pow-Wows and stuff like that and there was the Pima County Fair, but it was a roaming carnival with livestock exhibits and stuff like that. The Pow-Wows were fun. Lots of fry bread, Mexican food, native games and dances. No giant log houses, but we did have some horse racing around a very dusty track. You ate your grilled corn on the cob smothered with butter before you went to the races, or it ended up covered in dust.
Irene, It was definitely A&W out here. There was nothing better that a frosty mug of very cold root beer on a 108 degree day. Sometimes with a scoop of ice cream floating around in it. Dad's wasn't bad in a pinch.
Thanks Major.
I spent 10 years doing boat covers and interiors. The log house would be exactly like living in a sailboat.
I'm thinking it's the same log home in both photo sets looking weathered after 40+ years on the road around the country.
Zach, It looks to me like Cider Line Lady is wearing a black leather and skirt. The lady next to her is decked out in a stylish late 60s outfit. They are the two hippest people at the fair.
Super fun post. Thanks Major and Chuck!
I love all of the statues in the last picture, especially the heads on poles! Thanks for the random shoutout, Major. :-) I guess I'm 26 today.
Andrew, were you born in 2004? You were in diapers when Major started this blog. When he ends this blog, the rest of us will be. ;o)
I have 3 squirrels living in my trees. Now I see why!
Thanks, Major and Chuck!!
Did anyone mention Mug Root Beer? As a kid it was still called Belfast Old Fashioned Mug Root Beer and was bottled in San Francisco. Not sure I ever had Dad's. We had an A&W around the corner in High School but no car hops. I don't drink Root Beer very often, but when I do, it's in a frosty mug.
Thanks, Chuck, for the traveling Redwood (dibs on a band name) photos. It triggered memories of being in one here in California in my youth.
zach
There's a fiberglass horse on top of that booth because...?
Because a stainless steel horse would have caved the roof in.
No love for Barq’s root beer? Is this one of those times where I find out a brand is regional instead of national?
The log home is the same one. How do I know? Because I went in it myself a few years ago when it was at the State Fair of Texas. It claimed that it was the only one (I think it was built by a guy for his wife in the 30s)
It's pretty cramped inside and a boat would probably be more roomy.
Nanook, it’s true, some of these are definitely instances where the people are as interesting (or more so) than the Danbury Fair. It’s a feature, not a bug! Thanks for the car IDs. A Kodak Brownie Starmite? It will never be as great as a “Starflash” (remember, that’s my break-dancing nickname).
TokyoMagic!, the lack of anything near the Fairy Godmother was an attempt to teach people about the emptiness and futility of wishes, dreams, magic, and other Disney tropes. “Lies, all lies!”.
Jonathan, yes, there are log homes, and then there are log homes. One is not like the other. I really am bummed that this fair not only disappeared, but did so long ago! What’s a Knickerbocker float?
TokyoMagic!, you are thinking outside the box! Way WAY outside of the box.
Chuck, ZOIKS! Too dark. Interesting thought about Bob Carlson, how in the world did you know about him? Thank you for the photos of the one-log home from the National Thresher Show!
Irene, you’re the best, but I love A&W, and have so many fond memories of going to the A&W restaurant in Austin, Minnesota with my grandparents. I’m surprised that you didn’t like that brand! In fact, I don’t think I really liked any other kind of root beer very much.
zach, oh I love to go to fairs (street fairs especially), where people bring out their beautiful restored cars. They do an Octoberfest in Morro Bay, and the cars are my favorite part. I see what you mean about the blonde on her early iPhone! I can read things backwards, as well as upside-down, which is why I make millions of dollars every year. Gosh, it DOES look like that lady is wearing all leather!
JG, my brother was the root beer fanatic in my family, and I tried them all, but I guess my palate was too delicate (no wait, SOPHISTICATED!). The restaurant near my grandparents did have the carhops and the trays that hung on the window, and those giant frozen mugs. SO GOOD!
DrGoat, I would imagine that the daytime heat might have made an outdoor carnival impractical, though maybe they could get away with it in the winter or spring? Pow-Wows sound fun, and who doesn’t like a nice county fair? Grilled corn on the cob, oh yeah! That have that Mexican “street corn” at many fairs around here, so messy and delicious. I never had a root beer float with A&W, but MAN that sounds amazing right about now (I just went for a six mile hike today).
Grant, I am always fascinated by the way sailboats and motor homes have to provide maximum storage with minimal space. My friend’s brother lived on a sailboat for a few years, I always thought that was a little weird. Once he met his fiancee, the boat was gone. I can’t imagine that there were too many other leather-clad ladies at the fair, or even in the whole state of Connecticut!
Andrew, THIS IS WHY I DON’T DO MATH!
Lou and Sue, I wear diapers already. I’ll email you with a list of all the reasons they are so convenient. Squirrels?! I’d love it if you could see my best friend when you mention squirrels, I’d sit back and wait for his rant about how much he hates them!
zach, I remember Mug root beer, but I probably didn’t care for it. Like I said, it was A&W or nothing for me! We had an A&W restaurant not far from me when we first moved back to SoCal, but it closed a long time ago. And the one in the town where my grandparents lived was torn down for a Mayo Clinic building, the end of an era.
Melissa, you make a good point, and I am ashamed of myself for not thinking of it. Barq’s had TOO MUCH “bite”! But for you tough kids, it was probably just right.
Stu29573, very cool! So neat that you saw the very same one-log home, and confirmed that it was “vintage”. And that means that it’s STILL around. I like how the man in Chuck’s second photo is just sort of staring at nothing, unless he just really loves wood grain.
Oh, and I was always a Dad's drinker...mainly because it was MY dad's favorite!
The best root beer I ever had was on a vacation in Wisconsin at Wilson's Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor in Door County. It's home-brewed draft!
Wow, the Chuckster delivered some true log home goodness. I love people who do outlandish but totally cool stuff. How many of us would see a project like this through. My opinion is it is the same log.
Stu29573, for some reason, that (besides A&W), Hires was the root beer that was more in my consciousness. I can't remember if there were Hires commercials, or billboards, or what!
Anonymous, I wish I could try it!
Jonathan, what I really want to know is what else Chuck saw at the National Thresher Show. Besides lots of threshers, I mean.
Major, that man in my photo is actually a very close friend of mine, and yes, he loves wood grain. And trains. And 1970s Saturday morning TV shows.
I myself am not 100% convinced it's the same log house. There were four made from the same tree - one is in Gaberville, CA; one is at the Ripley's Believe-it-or-not Museum in St Augustine, FL; and at least one is based out of Florida and tours fairs (contrary to popular belief, the fourth is not in my back yard). What has me wondering is that the tree in today's photo has an end wall made from a cut at the stump of the tree, while both ends of the one I saw were made from redwood planks as the ends of the one in St Augustine.
That said, the end may have become unstable and required a replacement at some point. Looking at the older photo of the Gaberville house in the GDB post the Major linked and comparing it to contemporary photos, that house now has shingles around the door, so weathering and continued transportation may have taken its toll.
Either way, it's pretty neat that this thing is still around. Glad you got to see it, too, Stu.
I honestly had never heard of Bob Carlson before this morning, but a Google search on "Calrlson steam Connecticut" turned up his name and it seemed plausible to me.
I'm not sure how interesting the rest of my photos at the Thresher Show would be to a general audience, particularly with the limitations of the camera I had with me, but it is a great memory, finally getting to go to an event I'd heard about for nearly 20 years with a couple of close friends who could really appreciate it.
And Andrew - if you like heads on poles, you'd have loved 16th Century London.
Melissa, Barq’s is out here now. It’s good, and seems to have displaced most of the old names.
I can’t remember the last time I had a root beer and now I can’t think on anything else.
JG
I also have fond memories of Grandma taking us to the A&W.
Our local car hop place, with root beer and all, was "Dog 'n' Suds." Did any of you Jr. Gorillas have them by you? Ours was within walking distance of my house, if we cut through a big field and walked around a golf "driving range." Me and my friends and a couple cousins (in our pre-teen and early teen years) would walk there for lunch or dinner, in the summertime. Going out to eat without parents made us feel so grown up. Good times!
Barq's is bottled by the Coca-Cola Company, which explains its coast-to-coast market penetration in recent decades.
Unlike most root beers, regular Barq's is caffeinated in most markets by most delivery methods, so that has limited my caffeine-free restaurant options as they spread nationwide (caffeine tends to make me jittery so I avoid it altogether). I just learned today that the Barq's available from Coca-Cala Freestyle machines is un-caffeinated; Diet Barq's is caffeine-free, and the concentrate used for both in Freestyle machines has no caffeine, the only difference being the sweetener. It's apparently also sold in a caffeine-free variety in Utah.
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