Marshfield Fair, Carnivals In General

MARSHFIELD FAIR

The 152nd Marshfield FairAugust 16 – 25, 2019

Admission  $12.00Children 6 & under  FREE
Parking Gate E only  $5.00

Presale Tickets $9.00
Available until 6:00 pm August 15 for sale below or by
calling 781-834-6629 or at the Administration Office

August 16 - 25, 2019

Open Noon - 10 pm daily

It's time for the Marshfield Fair!

The jewel of Marsh Vegas is the 152nd or so running of the legendary agricultural fair. The first one went down 2 years after the US Civil War ended, and nothing could stop it since.

It serves up an awesome combo platter of rides, fried food, games, animals, freak shows, demolition derbies, music, wrestling... you're not going to be bored at the Marshfield Fair.

The only way that you can be more Americana than the Marshfield Fair is if you travel back in time and get a thang goin' on with George Washington and/or Betsy Ross. Carnivals and agricultural fairs have been around in some form since before America was America. I wouldn't be surprised to know that a 5 year old Thomas Jefferson was running around happy/wild at some sort of travelling fair.

"Carnival" is a term that basically means "merrymaking before Lent." The modern travelling carnival has strayed from her religious base to be more of a seasonal thing. The Marshfield Fair, while definitely holding 100% legit agricultural fair status, is in the Travelling Carnival subgroup.

The modern carnival has many parents. The travelling circus is a direct ancestor, but Vaudeville, burlesque, and gypsies also get into the mix. The 1893 Chicago World's Fair was very influential, They had a whole section of the grounds devoted to rides, games of chance, freak shows, Wild West shows and even the first Ferris Wheel.

The public ate it up, and people began to develop similar events that could be taken on the road. There were 17 travelling fairs (I think Marshfield is included in this number) in the US during 1902, and there were 300 by 1937.

The difference between megaparks like Disneyland or Six Flags and a travelling carnival is that the carny rides are smaller, and can be broken down for quick transport.  Disneyworld is rooted to the spot they're in, while I'm pretty sure that the same carny stuff that is in Marsh Vegas today was in Barnstable last month and will be in Topsfield by October or so. Many carnivals cover a lot of territory, being a spring/autumn event in the South before/after moving North in the summer months.

Marshfield has been running their Fair in August for as long as I can remember. This lengthy Fair history page that I have no intention of reading all the way through says that it was a September event before Marshfield became a seasonal resort area. This owes to the agricultural roots of the fair.

It is the big shin-dig every summer if you're a South Shore kid. July 3rd owns July, and the Marshfield Fair owns August. I'm sure that a parent from 1868 would sympathize with a time-travelling 2016 parent as their kids ran wild around the same fairgrounds. Some things never change.

It's a useful calibration tool for locals, and it gives Marshfield instant name recognition in the region. Someone from Weymouth or Brockton may never have been to Duxbury or Middleboro, and I managed to live 10 miles from Monponsett without ever having heard Monponsett mentioned until a realtor showed me a house there... but every kid on the South Shore has been to Marshfield, usually during mid-August.

It is a popular event. I have the numbers for 2006's Fair, and they come up at around 180,000 paying customers. The town profits from the influx of visitors, less in a hotel sense than in a gas/supper/smokes/passing-through sense. I know someone who makes about $5000 a year by letting people park on his lawn.

It's a people-watcher's paradise. You get a fine cross-section of the South Shore population base. Also be sure to check out the carnies.

Carnies are the people who work the fairs. They're a strange migrant horde who speak their own language. Much of it is from back when the carnivals were more of a gilded theft. The language is secretive, and it evolves enough that if you know the term, it's already out of date.

"Mark," which I first heard ascribed to wrestling fans, is from the carnival. If a game operator found a sucker ("rube"), he'd pat his back with a chalked hand, leaving a "mark" that other game operators could identify the man by.

Fairs are known for their rides, which are today's main attraction. Marshfield has all sorts of them. We'll try to get some pictures later, but the better ones are the Ferris Wheel, the Funhouse (Vegas usually has it more as a haunted house), the Tilt-a-Whirl, the Round-up, the Vomit Spewer, the Child Decapitator and a dozen other rides that i have no intention of getting on.

I took this girl Julie to the Marshfield Fair once, after dinner at the Ming Dynasty. I didn't hurl on the Sno-Bobs or whatever that ride is called, but I also did nothing more daring than slink through the petting zoo afterwards. I had to go back with her (and her sister Ashley) a few days later, so she could go on rides with someone who had courage. I did hurl at Rocky Point once, but we're not going there.

We do plan on doing a Game Of Chance article where we share tips on how to beat Carny Games, but we're running a bit behind. I still have to learn how to beat these games, I'm pretty much that Mark you read about. A marginally-bright Carny will outfox me 8 days a week.

Avoiding the rides gives me more time to focus on food. I rarely eat Fried Dough outside of Carnival context these days. I might rip a chunk off the kid's cotton candy if I can do so with stealth. I'm all in on caramel apples, funnel cake and vinegar fries. If someone's serving Fried Twinkies, I'm eating Fried Twinkies. I'm not opposed to a fried chicken stand attack, although I have never and will never eat a Corn Dog. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

The sad part, as you saw from my date with Julie, is that I try to go out to dinner before the Fair, so I don't go crazy and overeat.

Gates Open: Noon – 10 pm 

Everyday

No Pets Allowed Except Service Animals

Special Days

Marshfield Resident’s Day

Friday, August 16 & 23

Noon – 6:00 – discount with proof of residency

Friday, August 23 – wrist band special for residents ONLY

12 -6pm – $20.00

Senior Citizen Day

Tuesday, August 20

Seniors FREE

4H & Agricultural Awareness Day

Wednesday, August 21

4H members who wear their Plymouth County 4H t-shirts are admitted FREE

Children’s Day

Thursday, August 22

Children 12 & under FREE

Kiddie rides 50% off

Wristband Special – Kids up to 12 – 12-6 pm – $20.00** & 6-10 pm – $20.00**

Wristbands can not be used on the Bumper Cars, Bungee Jumping, Rock Wall, Giant Slide and Roller Coaster.

**There are two time slots for wristbands. 12-6 and then again from 6-1

Wristbands 

Friday, Aug. 16- 12–6 pm -$25.00
Tuesday, Aug. 20 – 6–10 pm – $30.00
Thursday, Aug. 22.

FAIR TRIVIA

- Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge attended at different times.

- One of the wrecks from a 1930s car race made it into Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

- The Fair started off as the South Marshfield Farmer's Club. It was founded by Levi Walker and George Baker.

- Attendance for the first year was 19. In 1865, it was 200. In 1866, it was 9000.

- Exhibition Hall, the main building of the fair even today, went up in 1867. You could rent it yourself for 50 cents a night. It hosted town meetings for many years. It had an upstairs basketball court until 1939.

- Thomas Lawson ran things for a while. A lumber "magnet," he oversaw much of the building there. He was also into horses, and developed the race track you still see there. That was 1905. Racing lasted at the Fair for 100 years, and the track was considered to be one of the best in America for a while.

-While there are many contenders, betting on Fair horse racing is said to possibly be the genesis of Marshfield's "Marsh Vegas" nickname.

- In 1912, they used to have motorcycle races, as Merze motorcycles were made in Brockton. They evolved into Model T races, which led to the Ripley's accident.

- Attractions during the 1940s included pig races, lumberjack shows, high wire acts and birds of prey.

See you at the Fair!