Franklin County Field Days’ 48-year run as one of Vermont’s top agricultural fairs is coming to an end — for now at least.
The organization’s board of directors announced on Facebook Saturday that Franklin County Field Days “will not take place this year.” The four-day event has been held at the state airport in Highgate since 1985. According to board chair Fernand Gagne, the state of Vermont will no longer let the organization use that site, and they’ve been unable to secure an alternative location.
“It’s really a shame — it’s a beautiful fair,” Gagne told Vermont Public Monday. “And it doesn’t make any sense.”
There’s a lot of people here who make a partial living off this one weekend. It’s a shame we can’t keep this going.Fernand Gagne, Franklin County Field Days board chair
State officials told Vermont Public in 2023 that conditions attached to funding Vermont accepted from the Federal Aviation Administration forced the state to disallow the field days from happening on the site.
"Our Federal Aviation Administration partners meet with us on a pretty regular basis to make sure that we're maintaining the resources they've invested in a way that's consistent with the federal regulations," said Michele Boomhower, division director for policy planning and intermodal development at the Vermont Agency of Transportation. "And this has been an area of concern of theirs for some time.”
Abigail Gagne, marketing director for Franklin County Field Days, said the nonprofit organization has evaluated more than two dozen properties over the past four years in anticipation of losing the airport site. She said they’ve been unable to find a location that has the acreage, soil type and proximity to a major highway needed for an event that draws about 20,000 people every August.
“There’s a lot of parking. You need a lot of land for all the activities and the track events and the rides and the animals,” Abigail Gagne said. “We are a small county, but there’s a lot that goes on at that fair and everything takes room.”
Organizers say the search for a new location continues and that they hope to resume the summer tradition as soon as possible. But Fernand Gagne said economic realities threaten its return.
Today, land is very expensive. It’s just jumped up a lot, so it’s almost beyond our reach now.Fernand Gagne, Franklin County Field Days board chair
“When we started looking for land, the land was a little more reasonable,” he said. “Today, land is very expensive. It’s just jumped up a lot, so it’s almost beyond our reach now.”
Abagail Gagne said the event offered a low-cost entertainment option for fairgoers of all ages.
“If you’re a teenager or a kid, $15 can get you in. It can get you to go on the rides. You can watch anything. Anything that’s going on at the fair — $15,” she said. “You can’t find that anywhere else.”
Fernand Gagne said the event was powered largely by local volunteers, and was also an important source of income for small businesses.
“There’s a lot of money that changes hands through the vendors, the exhibitors, the concessioners,” he said. “There’s a lot of people here who make a partial living off this one weekend. It’s a shame we can’t keep this going.”
