As always, this year’s Canterbury Fair begins at 9 am with the ringing of the church bells on the last Saturday in July—the 27th this year. The 5K Woodchuck Classic and 2k Chipmunk Scramble start the day on the right foot. Ready, set, GO!

The fair will also feature children’s games, the usual great used book sale, a display of operating antique machinery, demonstrations of traditional handicrafts, canoe polo on the fire pond, and the familiar but always amazing What-Not sale at the elementary school. Music will fill the Center for most of the day!

Come hungry! There’ll be sausages, burgers, dogs and more for your lunch with options to wash it all down with an Ice-cold lemonade or one of those delicious frappes from the Frappe Bar under the shade trees. Baked goods and Shaker Hand Pies are a great purchase for breakfast, your dessert, a special treat, or to take home! Purchase your ticket early for the famous BBQ Chicken Dinner. Eat it in the Parish Hosue or take it home for an evening meal on your screen porch at the end of your wonderful day at the fair. 

The Canterbury Historical Society’s displays will be open throughout the day at the Houser Museum, the one-room schoolhouse adjacent to the library, and at the old Elkins Memorial Building.

Fun fair facts: The fair as we know it today began in 1958 when the Canterbury Ladies Benevolent Society added a chicken barbecue to the “Canterbury Country Fair and Bazaar” it had been sponsoring for several years. Proceeds from the early fairs were used primarily to furnish a new community building which replaced one that had been destroyed by a fire, along with most of the town center, in 1943. Proceeds from the fair today benefit the Canterbury Fund, which aids local families in need, and the community service programs of the Canterbury United Community Church.

See you at the fair!