Woodstock

Fair's Main

Exhibition

Hall 

restored

WOODSTOCK — The first building on the grounds of the Woodstock Fair, the Main Exhibition Hall, has received a face lift over the past year and fairgoers are invited to celebrate the reopening of the building Sept. 4.

“We felt it was necessary for the preservation, not only of the building, but of what has become the iconic symbol of the Woodstock Agricultural Society. We did it to preserve the Society’s history,” said  the president of the Woodstock Agricultural Society, Susan Lloyd.

The reopening of the building will coincide with the opening of the 155th annual Woodstock Fair at 9 a.m. on Sept. 4. Ticket booths will be open at 8:45 a.m.

Fairgoers are invited to watch the brief festivities which will take place immediately following the national anthem. The Woodstock Agricultural Society Board of Directors and invited guests will take part.

“We want to give credit to the people who made this possible. It’s taken us a number of years to get here.

When other projects were done, we were thinking ahead,” Lloyd said.

The planning for the restoration actually began in 2010. The Agricultural Society provided all of the funding for the restoration.

“It was a significant financial investment, but also an investment in the future of the Society,” Lloyd said.

The Main Exhibition Hall was built with funds initiated by Henry Chandler Bowen in 1871. The 36-foot wide by 96-foot long timber frame building was put to use as an exhibition hall for the first time in 1874.

The original building was enlarged in 1885 when a 36-by-36, two-story addition was built. The Society leased the second and third floors of the building to the Senexet Grange (1912-1937) and Masonic Fraternity

.The  façade  of the  building has  changed  a  little  over  the  years,  but  nothing of  this  extent  had been attempted previously.

“It’s the first restoration that (the Society) has done of any of the buildings,” Lloyd said.

In the process of the restoration, charred wood was found in the building, believed to be evidence of a lightning strike that fortunately put itself out.

The exhibits inside the hall may be arranged a bit differently, but will remain consistent. Lloyd said the structure will continue to host fruits, vegetables, floral and photography displays. The local granges, Woodstock Historical Society and Roseland Cottage will also have their exhibits in the building this year.