Topsfield Fair History

The Topsfield Fair is known as America’s oldest county fair. This year in 2022 is going to be the 204th Topsfield Fair.

The Topsfield Fair was founded in 1818 by the Essex County Agricultural society. It started originally to promote Agricultural interest, so that meant they were trying to get the attention of well-known people, such as politicians, attorneys, wealthy merchants and farmers. 

In 1841, Beekeeping and Honey became a big event at the Topsfield Fair and it was run by the Essex County Beekeepers Association. The people who come to see the bees also get to visit the Beekeeping building and take home delicious baked goods, barbecue sauces, and candy. 

 In 1925, the Topsfield fair had some big changes, they installed new halls and stables for the horses, a new half-mile track, a dance pavilion, baseball fields, and a new water supply and new electric lights surrounding the fair which allowed for the fair to be open longer at night. According to the Topsfield Fair website all of these new features to the Topsfield Fair caused the fair to attract new people and visitors from all over. 

In 1942, the Topsfield fair was free admission to anyone who brought 50 pounds of scrap metal or 20 pounds of scrap rubber. The Topsfield Fair website states that they did this to help make bullets for the troops in WWII. The Topsfield Fair was closed in 1943, 1944, and 1945 for WWII.

The Topsfield Fair opens this year on September 30, 2022. According to the Topsfield Fair website the Topsfield Fair is one of the biggest and longest lasting fairs throughout all of New England. The fair started off to show off new farming technology and to show off cattle but it later evolved into something greater with attractions such as food trucks, rides, live shows, a largest pumpkin contest, and so much more.