Memorial Day Weekend at the Orleans County Fairgrounds

Every community has places where people naturally gather. Over Memorial Day weekend, the Orleans County Fairgrounds in Barton, Vermont, became one of those places. Horse pulls, poles and barrels, demolition derby cars, tractors, and livestock brought people through the gates for a weekend filled with competition, activity, and the familiar sights of life at the fairgrounds.

Memorial Day Weekend in Barton, Vermont

The Orleans County Fairgrounds may be best known for the annual fair, but the grounds also provide a place for community events at other times of the year. Earlier in the season, young snowmobile racers had taken to the grounds for the Orleans County Fair Mini Race Circuit. By Memorial Day weekend, snowmobiles had given way to horses, tractors, livestock, and other activities as people once again gathered in Barton.

But some of my favorite photographs from the weekend weren’t necessarily of the competitions themselves.

Between the horse pulls, poles and barrels, and other events were the quieter moments that can easily go unnoticed: a young rider waiting her turn, a child behind the wheel of a tractor, families visiting along the fence line, a boy receiving an affectionate kiss from a stranger’s dog, and neighbors reconnecting after a long Vermont winter.

Those moments are part of what makes community events like this worth documenting. The competitions may bring people through the gates, but the people themselves tell the larger story. Around the Orleans County Fairgrounds that weekend, there were plenty of reminders that these gatherings are as much about neighbors, families, and shared traditions as they are about what happens in the arena or on the track.

This collection looks beyond the individual events and focuses on some of those moments—the people, animals, competitions, and connections that made Memorial Day weekend at the Orleans County Fairgrounds feel like a small-town gathering should.

Some of these photographs were first published in the Newport Daily Express and North Star Monthly.