Sunday, August 5, dawned bright and sunny. Officers and members of the Andover Historical Society all breathed a sigh of relief as they prepared themselves to be off and running for the annual Old Time Fair held at Potter Place.

Through the years, weather on the first Sunday in August has proven to be unpredictable and sometimes challenging. We’ve seen it all – extreme heat, wind, storms, thunder and lightning, torrential downpours, and occasionally – like this year – absolutely perfect New England early fall weather! The day was delightful, the weather cooperated, and the general disposition of many people who attended seemed up-beat and positive.

No one can quite remember exactly when Andover’s Old Time Fair began. It seems to have begun as a fundraising auction at the Andover Fire Station sometime in the early 1980s – now close to 35 years ago! It has grown to be the largest annual fundraising event for the Andover Historical Society.

As usual, there were various events occurring throughout the day. Beginning at 9 AM, the gates were thrown open to perhaps the largest flea market the fair has ever seen. There were ample bargains to go around, and people seemed pleased with their finds. The farmer’s market had its customary home grown vegetables and baked goods as well as flowers and plants – and it sold out!

There was plenty of food to go around this year, including strawberry shortcake, ice cream, sweets, and various other items of food and drink. Culinary artisans were on hand who made homemade jelly, jams, and marmalade, as well as Moose Country Gourmet’s homemade mustards, fudge, and barbecue sauces.

There were also handmade crafts for sale at the fair, and the Railroad Pumper Car rides were again a success with the young crowd. Visitors, especially those from away, were impressed with the buildings and displays of the Historical Society at the Potter Place Depot and the Emons Store and Post Office, as well as the secret garden in the cellar hole of Richard Potter’s house site.

At noon, Andover’s own Arch Weathers began the annual auction of antiques and donated items. Music was provided by Lindsay Schust and the Ragged Mountain Band, and its tones wafted through the air throughout the morning. The children attending had great fun making huge bubbles and listening to Carolyn Parrott, who entertained them with music and stories.

There were many artists and craftsmen demonstrating their talents at the fair this year. Demonstrations included the art of chair caning, penny rug-making, rug hooking, spinning, weaving, carding and lace-making, felted and knitted wool items, basket weaving, wooden works including hand-made bowls, wooden spoons and utensils, and kayak paddle-making.

Demonstrations of wood carving and sculpting, bird and bat house-making, as well as homemade whirligigs and spinners for the lawn, clothing, candles, and other fabric items and accessories. Also demonstrated was the art of fly tying for fishing, oil painting, and jewelry-making.

Wow! I hope I did not leave anyone out – but you can see by the sheer number of vendors at the fair, that visitors could easily spend hours simple viewing these items and talking with the various artists about the quality work they produce.

One of the highlights of the fair for the past few years has been the selling of raffle tickets for a huge gift basket. The basket is traditionally filled with wonderful items donated from the local community – homemade items, foodstuffs, gift certificates, etc. You get the idea; it is a very generous and overflowing basket of goodies.

The response through ticket sales is always impressive. Wanda Smith has done a yeoman’s job over the past few years in obtaining the contributions and making the raffling of this basket an “over-the-top” event.

This year the raffling of the basket proved to be an extra special event, with dual winners! When the tickets were stirred around and shaken, and the magic ticket was drawn, it was none other than Andover’s own Larry Chase who won the prize.

Shortly after the drawing, while Larry was looking through the gift basket, he was approached by a wonderful little lady who had been avidly enjoying the day at the fair. It was apparent that this delightful woman was particularly drawn to the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in the basket. The rest is history; Larry spontaneously handed the Andy doll to Mrs. Doris Ebel of New London, and the two of them came out huge winners in this small local event!