The 184th season of the Saratoga County Fair is in action this week in Ballston Spa. There is plenty to see, but you might want to be selective if you’re looking to pick up a new hobby.
The Saratoga County Fair attracts oddities of all sorts, from water-skiing squirrels to motor derbies. There’s even an 8-foot-3 stilt-walker wandering the grounds.
One of the first attractions you might see is next to one of the fair’s main entrances.
“Good morning. My name’s Howard Houck, I’m a retired school teacher but I’m a farm boy. And this is one of my hobbies. We’ve got probably over 30 engines. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years. And it’s better than a television set,” said Houck.
Houck and a few friends have set up a series of antique generators, what Houck calls “portable farm power.” They used to power farms before electricity, but now Houck has them waving flags, moving water, or just making noise.
“These are called a ‘hit-and-miss.’ You hear how they make a noise and then coast, then they hit again? The one behind me is a throttle governor, hear how regular it hits? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” said Houck.
Houck finds most of his engines at old farms and takes them home for repairs—he’s spent as little as 10 minutes and as long as two years to get engines back up and running.
“You have a lot of work to do on it first, yes. But it’s fun. And my hands are clean right now, but they won’t be by the end of the day,” said Houck.
Just steps away, so-called “Master of the Chainsaw” Brian Ruth is adding impossibly intricate details to a 4-foot owl statue.
After the show, Ruth explains he’s been honing his craft for four decades.
“I was a Villanova business major and I graduated and I asked my father for couple hundred dollars more so I could buy some chainsaws because I’m going to become a chainsaw carver for a living. And he obliged,” said Ruth.
Despite the noise, Ruth says it can be a meditative craft that poses its own unique challenges – in addition to the splinters.
“It’s a difficult art form because you can’t put it back, it’s reduction sculpture. So, if you’re working with clay, ‘oops, I need a little more there,’ you just add it. There’s no adding the wood back here,” said Ruth.
Across the fairgrounds, two kids are getting their lambs in shape.
Nine-year-old Owen Reimann and his brother, Ian, are tending to their brown and black Cotswold sheep and making preparations for shows later this week.
“So, two days ago we washed them and three or foru days ago we cut off the poo on the back of their legs. And we’re about to trim them again,” said Reimann.
Mom Crystal Reimann couldn’t be happier.
“My husband and I grew up with farming in our background so we felt it was very important that our boys had it as well. So, they help us pitch the pen out, they help us to bring all of the haybales in and all of the strawbales in. And they walk the sheep and they have the sheep run away from them and we help them catch them. But it’s just an amazing process to watch them grow,” said Reimann.
The Saratoga County Fair runs through Sunday.
