The Sterling Fair or Cattle Show or Sterling Farmers’ Fair as it has been called has a tradition in Sterling dating back to 1860. Except for a few short lapses during the Civil War, World War I and the years between 1958 and 1981 when the Fair was suspended due to lack of volunteers, the Sterling Fair has been an important launch to Fall in our corner of New England. People came from far and wide to witness proud farmers, growers, bakers, crafters and canners celebrate their talents and wares in friendly competition. Noted Sterling farmers with familiar names like Butterick, Fitch, Chandler, Sawyer, Wilder, Osgood, Burpee and many other notables took part.

The Town Common was the center of all the action. Pens were set up along main street to accommodate the various thoroughbreds who awaited judging and that coveted blue ribbon. Dinner was often held in the upper or lower Town Hall which often proved too small to host the entire crowd in one sitting, especially before the addition of 1893.

Seminars, exhibits, acts and entertainment of all sorts could be found. Musicians playing the music of the day, ventriloquists with their talking puppets, tool and machinery demonstrations, salesman selling potion’s that would soothe your skin or cure your ailments, food vendors of all sorts and games for kids and adults alike.

In darker days in the early 20th century, one such game hosted at our beloved Sterling Fair might better be left in the archives. It is so offensive, it is hard to imagine it was legal, let alone appreciated. The game was known as the African Dodger in Sterling and by more offensive names elsewhere. It is pictured in this early 20th century cartoon depicting the Sterling Fair and was retold in 1956 by James Patten Sr. in a Sunday Telegram article and painfully detailed in countless other sources. The game, a dodgeball of sorts, furnished a hanging canvas curtain with a single hole centered a few feet off the ground where an unfortunate black man (or possibly a white man in black-face) offered his head as target practice to patrons who purchased three hard balls for a nickel. It is difficult to imagine that the Town of Sterling in the State of Massachusetts in the early 1900’s participated in such nefarious and perverse activities in the name of amusement.

This is not the case today. The Sterling Fair has the innocence and virtue you would hope for in a small town fair offering great fun, good food and spirited competition for all ages. So remember our past, improve our future and enjoy your days at the Sterling Fair.