Friday’s deluge of rain turned the grassy parking lots around the grounds of the 156th annual Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair into mud pits.
On Saturday morning volunteers readjusted plastic fencing to create pathways to start the third day of the fair. By mid-morning the clouds had disappeared, replaced by a clear blue sky.
And the crowds returned too, trickling through the gate as the sounds of chainsaws ripped through the air.
Just inside the fairgrounds, about 200 people squeezed into the small area of shade by the Pulling Ring. Many fanned themselves with newspapers as the morning sun started to sizzle. Matt Galabos was undeterred by the heat as he introduced the participants in the 41st annual Woodsmen Contest, sprinkling jokes throughout.
Participants in the New England Lumberjack Association’s competition came to the Island from all over New England, but the gathered audience had traveled even farther. Mr. Galabos identified a family who’d come to the Island from Italy. They were promised a free T-shirt in exchange for a brief interview in the ring.
“How do you like the Vineyard?” Mr. Galabos asked a teenage girl in the family. “I like it. I mean, it’s okay,” she said.
“There you go folks, from the Martha’s Vineyard board of tourism, it’s okay,” Mr. Galabos said, handing over the shirt.
The experienced participants in the competition did okay, too. The first heat had three women battling it out to make three slices in a large beam as quickly as possible. A woman named Brenda set the record to be beat with a time of 5.6 seconds.
As to her feelings post-win? “I’m extremely ecstatic,” she said into the microphone.
Participants had nicknames like “Bull’s Eye” and “Buckwheat” printed on their shirts. Mr. Taylor told the crowd that Buckwheat had never once shaved his upper lip. His moustache was “virgin timber,” he said.
As the heats progressed, raffle tickets for two chainsaws and a cord of wood from Island company Lickety Split Logs were sold. “We’re changing lives here,” said Mr. Taylor, saying that everyone remembers their first chainsaw.
Elsewhere on the grounds, the Blue Hill brass band made an impromptu stage under the shade of a tree. Down By the River and Uptown Funk got little children jumping and bobbing.
Inside the exhibit hall of homegrown entries, the air was still. A glass case of butter was dripping with condensation. A few flies bumped into the case of baked goods. In the junior preserving category, Sara C. Payne, 14, won so many awards for her pineapple, mint, peach jelly that the judges had to pin them around her translucent green jars. “Bravo” and “gorgeous” were written on her tag.
In the produce category, there were creamy white patty pan squashes, oxblood-colored onions and Indigo Rose tomatoes that faded from nearly black to pale green. Five purple peppers won a big purple ribbon for “most outstanding vegetable.”
Some onlookers were impressed, some expressed indifference. “I don’t know why these potatoes are somehow the best,” said a woman to her two boys. But the value was not lost on her: “It’s amazing that these were all grown in somebody’s garden,” she concluded.
A sunflower entered by Leah and Eric Pachico had a hefty stalk and a cascade of massive leaves. Its proud round head reached high into the air. From even higher was hung a monochromatic indigo-dyed quilt made by Islander Pam Flam. On the 93-inch square, a speckled white moon shone out from a background of midnight blue.
Out the hall’s barn doors, the rides of the midway churned and creaked. A father held his young son on his lap at the top of the Super Slide. The boy yelled and kicked until they started to descend. Then his face melted into a grin and the pair slid out of sight.
For the final day on Sunday Fairgrounds are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and seniors and free for Agricultural Society members.
Sunday highlights include the dog show at 10 a.m., the women's skillet throw at 3 p.m. and Robinson's Racing Pigs from 4 to 6 p.m.
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