All’s Fair: From Altamont to Schaghticoke, from Fonda to Chatham

Photographs by Michael Seinberg

It’s September, and that means that the Local 518 county fair season is kicking into high gear with plenty of animal judging, fried dough, racing pigs, karaoke, cotton candy, amusement rides on the midway and all-around last-gasp-of-summer fun…

Nippertown contributor Michael Seinberg captured the fab fair fun at last month’s Altamont Fair, which has closed for another year, but there are still quite a few other nearby fairs that you won’t want to miss:

The Fonda Fair starts today (Tuesday, September 1) and continues through Monday (September 7). In addition to the usual fair fare, the Fonda Fairgrounds will also play host to the Mohawk Valley Music Fest on Saturday (September 5) featuring performances by Nashville country music star Trace Adkins as well as Sawyer Fredericks (winner of NBC-TV’s “The Voice”), Keith Anderson, Caroline Kole and Skeeter Creek. Tickets for the fest are $35 in advance; $40 at the gate.

The Great Schaghticoke Fair kicks off on Wednesday (September 2) and runs through Monday. Entertainment at the fest includes Fritz’s Polka Band (Thursday); Cryin’ Out Loud and ZZ Top tribute band Triple X (Friday); the North Country Music Awards Show and Big Sky Country (Saturday); the American Longboards and the Beach Party Boys (Sunday); and Grit N Whiskey and Marty Haggard (Monday).

And the Columbia County Fair also opens it gates on Wednesday (September 2) and continues through Monday in Chatham. Headlining the fair is country star Rodney Atkins (Sunday) with a wide array of homegrown musical talent also performing, including Christina Dellea (Thursday); the Harvest Duo, 8 One 9 and Allen Halstead & Azzaam Hameed (Saturday); and the Reverberators Unplugged (Monday).