What's your name? Fred Allard. Fred, what are you going to be doing at the fair this
week? We run the Redneck Warrior. It's an obstacle course and all the obstacles in the
course are model after Redneck Stereotype. We have Hatchet Throwing, we have Adeladal,
Archery, we have some events that involve crowd participation, stacking wood, dragging
deer, Mountain of Hay, pushing your lawn more, that kind of stuff. Yeah, it sounds like a
lot of fun. Where are you from? We're from Havel, New Hampshire. Jan, what are you going
to be doing at the fair this week? We are the Extension Master Gardeners and we have
spent the entire summer getting these gardens planted and maintained and ready for the
fair. We're going to be putting out labels for the names of the plants so people can
be aware of different species that are native to this area and are blooming this time of
year. We also have at the Bergstrom Building a booth that is full of literature and Master
Gardeners will be on hand to answer any questions about horticulture planting that you may have.
So please come and visit us. We would love to see you and check out the gardens and also
our compost area where we have information about composting. You excited about the fair
this week? Absolutely. We spend a lot of time getting ready for it over the summer so we're
happy it's here so we can interact with the people and show them what we've done. I want
to make sure that I am thanking all of the volunteers from our Master Gardener program
who come and do all this hard work throughout the course of the year. They're here now
weeding, deadheading, getting the gardens ready and without them we could not make this
project work. I take care of the grounds. I make sure that the grounds are kept up and
clean and take care of the grandstands, make sure the grandstands are clean and picked
up after every show and take care of all the trash and fix broken water lines and any
problems that any other concessions have and all that stuff. How are we looking for a great
fair this year? So far everything's looking good. Louis, how long have you been working
at the fair? I've been a vendor here for 53 years. I have food stands. That's impressive.
But I'm also the president of the fair. I'm running a fair this year also. Alright so
what kinds of stuff are you going to be doing today before the fair opens? A little bit getting
my own equipment ready and the rest of it, getting the fair ready. I have a good crew
and good vice presidents that help and we're just working to get the fair ready.
Alright Mark, what are you involved with this year? Okay, I'm with the Rutland County
Audubon Society and we put up at the rear end of the forestry building a display of
birds and we focus, this year the forestry building is focusing on the butternut species
of trees so we have pictures of birds that use butternut, that nest in butternut, that
eat butternuts. We also have a nice display here of a forest and information about Rutland
County Audubon and I guess that pretty much sums it up. What can you say to encourage
everybody to come out to the fair this year? Oh well, everybody should come out. It's the
great time. It was supposed to have nice weather and be sure to come back to the back of the
forestry building and check out the Rutland County Audubon display. Also the rest of
the forestry building, they do a really great job and a lot of people put a lot of work
into doing these displays and it's really nice when people come out and see them. I'm
Chris Philbrook, I'm part of the forestry department and this morning I'm setting up
Gizmo which is a spoke person for the Ironwood competition and he can be viewed at the front
of the building.
