Take me to the fair

Long Island wasn't always a bustling suburb.  Before Bill Levitt built his first house on Hempstead Plain, the island was home to a rich agrarian society.  And truth be told, there's still a significant agricultural economy on the East End.  So yes, the tradition of a "county fair" is still part of Long Island life.

And what better place to hold a county fair than in a "living history" museum?

Old Bethpage Village is a county park and living history museum.  All of the buildings on site came from various communities around the island.   The clothes, crafts, etc. exhibited at the museum are all from the mid 19th century. It's a small museum, can be seen in just a few hours, but with the fair on site ..,

There is a scarecrow contest, we saw a few of them on the fairgrounds.

I especially liked this one:

There were legitimate "county fair" contests, with entries and ribbon winners on display.

I entered a contest to guess the weight of the giant pumpkin.

There were animals, too.  

The horse was part of a drill team.  Sadly, we missed the performance.

Lots of food, of course.  We opted to just get snacks from a local bakery.  Drew had an oatmeal cookie and I had a chocolate chip scone.

To be continued...