“It brings me joy,” he said.
Weatherspoon prefers roast turkey legs, which were unavailable this year, so this was a welcome substitute as he developed a taste for it from his wife’s family’s recipe for chicken and noodle soup and looked forward to a dessert of berry cobbler after exploring the grounds, something he tries to do annually.
“I love it here,” Weatherspoon said.
Time to treat yourself
Joe and Peggy Ricca of South Charleston went for berry treats early on and planned on getting ginger cakes later, potentially having the bulk of their meals there.
It was their first visit back to the fair in several years as Joe got a new motorized scooter to get him around. The Riccas even have a cannon that Joe likes to shoot off every now and then, and they enjoy hearing the fair’s fired off.
One of the fair’s appeals is having favorite foods, but discovering new ones. Drunken mushrooms may sound like a psychedelic band, but are white mushrooms with garlic and herbs sprinkled with an adult beverage and more garlic mixed in.
A new offering was kettle corn, popcorn kernels doused with oil and sugar cooked in a kettle over an open fire attended by Derick Smith, whose grandparents, Dick and Donna Ward, were among the fair’s founders. His spouse, Niki, was one of those manning the Gypsy Frog food stall, which sold a popular peaches and pound cake dessert last year.
Camaraderie at annual fundraiser
Another taste associated with the fair comes courtesy of the area’s oldest Masonic Lodge, Harmony Lodge No. 8 of Urbana.
The lodge began selling scotch eggs about a dozen years ago as their main fundraiser of the year and have gone from 300 then to about 1,000 this weekend. Scotch eggs are hardboiled eggs wrapped in sausage and rolled in corn meal then deep friend and can be garnished with stone-ground mustard.
“Skeeter” Dillow said he and his lodge brothers are proud the eggs are period correct from the lodge’s founding in the early 19th Century.
“It’s a fundraiser, but we get to play dress-up and there’s a lot of camaraderie. It’s a lot of work but a lot of fun,” Dillow said.
They began with just a propane tank but acquired fryers to meet growing demand. Dillow said several of the fair’s participants are also fellow Masons.
Ice cream delights
While the weather is still warm, ice cream is in demand, and the 18th century version strawberry version was available.
Katie Rose Wright, another second-generation fair participant, said ice cream was rare in those days, often depending on how long the ice stores lasted.
She said even then, the flavors wouldn’t be very attractive as anchovy or oyster were offered unless you were among the elite. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson favored strawberry with their own recipes.
“This is where the common man can have an ice cream experience,” Wright said.
Even the fair’s Native American village displayed foods the tribe would’ve had including corn, pumpkins, beans, apple slices, nuts potatoes and a chicken roasting.
The Fair at New Boston is an annual event recreating the late 18th and early 19th Centuries held over Labor Day weekend.
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