The Riverhead Country Fair will return to downtown Riverhead on Sunday, October 9th.
The fair, a local favorite and one of the largest in New York State, features craft vendors, food, carnival rides and midway games. Live entertainment and local craft spirits and brews will be available throughout the day.
With more than 300 classes of competition, the fair is an annual ritual for local farmers, crafters, artisans, bakers and vegetable decorators hoping to snag a prize in one of the fair’s many competition categories.
The competitions have professional, amateur and youth divisions.
The event typically draws thousands each year to downtown Riverhead – both to marvel at the contest entries on display and to enjoy the festivities, carnival rides, shopping, live entertainment and food.
After a cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, the fair resumed in 2021, although attendance was hampered by rain.
The Country Fair is a Riverhead staple that can trace its roots back to the 1840s.
The fair as we know it was founded by Riverhead Townscape, an organization founded during the American bicentennial year of 1976 to beautify downtown Riverhead.
Townscape’s founders decided to restore an annual fair in Riverhead, which had hosted the Suffolk County Fair from the 1840s until sometime during the Great Depression, according to the late longtime organizer Jim Lull.
Originally organized by the Riverhead Agricultural Society, the fair was held on the property that became known as the fairgrounds, north of Pulaski Street.
It was held annually until the Great Depression, when it was held “only sporadically” until a group of residents decided in 1976 to revive the event.
Read more about the history of the fair on the Country Fair website.
To enter one of the fair’s many contests, participants must mail in an entry form by Saturday, October 1.
Self-registrations will be accepted on Saturday, October 8th from 1:00pm and Sunday, October 9th from 6:00am to 8:00am.
The fair will run from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on October 9.
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