The North Haverhill FairIs Coming To Town Soon
By Bernie Marvin
THE NORTH HAVERHILL FAIR IS COMING TO TOWN SOON. IT HAS A LONG HISTORY AS A FAMILY FAIR
Fair Week will be in full bloom during the week of July 22 to 26, 2026. The fair, held at the Fred C. Lee Memorial Field on Route 10 in North Haverhill, will open each morning and close on July 26. It is the fair's 82nd year.
Highlighting the shows, events, displays and great fair food choices will be an exciting mix of first-class entertainment on the Thayer stage and at other venues within the spacious fairgrounds.
For the fair, it has been a long, successful, community-themed road since the first fair was held as a one-day event in 1944 in Rintha Nutter's field and the village area of North Haverhill. The Pink Granite Grange, located in the area of the present VFW Hall, the old Town Clerk's office, and the church, had for years sponsored an annual ag exhibit for the fall harvest.
It was a popular event and grew somewhat until 1944 when they expanded the fair by adding displays and additional Grange exhibits. The Pink Granite Grange Fair continued to grow, according to Katharine Blaisdell in her book, "Haverhill, New Hampshire in the Twentieth Century," published in 2000, and, in a short time, occupied the Town, Village, and IOOF Hall and Nutter's field to the rear of Village Hall.
In the mid 1950's, with the fair continuing to expand, it was renamed the North Haverhill Fair and included animal exhibits, entertainment and amusement rides, displays, and many 4-H exhibits. In 1955, the fair moved to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Field behind the Morrill Municipal Building, formerly the North Haverhill School, and in 1982 moved to its larger site on Route 10 at the Fred C. Lee Memorial Field.
Fair Association President David Lackie, like many of the fair presidents before him, began his North Haverhill Fair experiences as a kid, helping his dad, Leslie Lackie, with various fair chores, later helping with the games of chance and other duties. David and his brother, Leslie, Jr., were familiar faces at the fair as youngsters, sneaking in under the snow fence and helping out with everything it takes to put the fair together.
David told me a while back that his dad was on the North Haverhill Fire Department and was running some of the games of chance on the midway as fund-raisers for the department. When David was as young as five years old, he recalled that he would assist the operation by placing a ball on a chute, with the ball stopping at a point that might win someone a prize.
He did that for several years, and as he became older, he and his brother would be the dunkees for the fire department dunk tank, being dunked into cold water to the delight of those lined up to get their chance at helping the Lackie brothers be continually dunked in the tank for the benefit of the fire department treasury.
He said the only interruption to the fair's continued annual programming since the day it began has been the one-year shutdown in 2020 to accommodate state orders issued by Concord health officials due to COVID-19 concerns.
He said the fair’s 16 directors and more than 300 volunteers are looking forward to some strong crowds visiting and enjoying the all-new shows and everything else on tap for fairgoers who are bristling to get out and participate in this great outdoor family event.
On tap is a long list of activities, including live music shows, agricultural shows, amusement rides, games, tractor pulls, and an amazing selection of fair foods.
Also, contests, a demolition derby, art and photography contests and displays, a flower show, a baking contest, a skid-steer competition, and many other fair-wide attractions.
President Lackie told me about one exciting program undertaken by the association over the past few years: the construction of a farm museum on the fairgrounds. He said the new museum was dedicated two years ago, and the building is slowly filling with farm implements and equipment used on area farms.
It was constructed to the right side of the present Maple Museum, a wonderful, attractive building filled with maple artifacts, stories, tools, and equipment, much of it donated by the late veterinarian, Dr. Edwin Blaisdell.
He is excited about the museum's design. He said the main barn building features interior and exterior display areas and is always looking for and accepting farming implements and equipment.
It seems there is always something new going on down at the fairgrounds. No sooner is a fair concluded than the committee sets to work on another big project that will inspire the countryside with some of the amazing talent and history hidden in the hills of the Northcountry.
North Haverhill Fair President David Lackie will be a familiar face around the North Haverhill Fairgrounds during the week of July 22 to 26, 2026. The fair is in town during that week and President Lackie and his fellow fair directors plus 300 volunteers will be on the scene throughout the fair. The Bridge Weekly file photo/Bernie Marvin.