Fine weather boosts fair attendance

No rain and high temperatures in the low 80s helped boost attendance at the New Jersey State Fair-Sussex County Farm & Horse Show this year.

This fair, which employed about 200 people, was one of the best-attended in more than a decade, according to the association that runs the fair.

Donations from attendees raised $4,000 each for the Sussex County Food Pantry, the Northern New Jersey Memorial Veterans Cemetery and Benny’s Bodega.

The fair spotlighted other nonprofit organizations by providing free commercial space and daily recognition. Those were the Weekend Bag Program, Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Intervention Services (DASI), Samaritan Inn, Maverick’s Legacy, Habitat for Humanity and Norwescap.

Community organizations raised more than $400,000 through concession booths and raffles at the fairgrounds. Those groups including the Frankford Fire Department, Knights of Columbus, Branchville Rotary, Montague Grange, 4-H Teen Council and Holy Spirit Orthodox Church.

The fair will be held July 31-Aug. 8 next year and will celebrate its 50th year at the current location.

The fair grew out of the Sussex County Horse Show, held in 1924 in Augusta in 1924 and in Branchville, starting in 1926.

The Sussex County Farm & Horse was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1940.

Box seats at horse show

New at the fair this year was a pavilion for box seats at the horse show.

Until 2021, box seats under a tent was a longtime tradition at the horse show. Many families bought the same ones each year, passing them down from generation to generation.

Jenny Shotwell, a member of the committee that has been raising funds for permanent box seating, called the pavilion “a great benefit to the fair.”

Lori Eckert, president of the committee, said construction of the pavilion cost about $76,000 plus expenses for excavation and electrical work.

Construction of four permanent platforms to hold 72 boxes is estimated to cost $150,000 to $200,000, she said.

The committee plans to continue fundraising for the next two to three years to cover that amount.

So far, the committee has raised about $150,000, including a matching grant of $50,000 from the Selective Insurance Group Foundation.

A box, which seats six people, cost $645 this year, down from $895 last year because the committee did not have to rent a tent. The cost is likely to decrease again once the committee does not have to rent platforms.

Eckert said there is a waiting list for boxes.

To join that list or the committee or to donate to the fundraising campaign, send checks to Box Seat Building Fund, New Jersey State Fair, P.O. Box 2456, Branchville, NJ 07826.