47th Riverhead Country Fair Brings Festive Crowd Downtown: Photos

RIVERHEAD, NY — A crowd turned out Sunday under blue, sunny skies to celebrate agriculture and community at the 47th Riverhead Country Fair.

The fair, always held on Columbus Day weekend, took place in downtown Riverhead.

The Riverhead Country Fair, which has been going strong for 47 years, minus a year for the pandemic, was shepherded for decades by Jim and Connie Lull.

The fair celebrates Riverhead's farming roots. The event included hundreds of vendors, games, agricultural, homemaking, and needlework competitions, food, activities for kids, craft beer, and live entertainment.

Susan Young, who has been involved with the fair for the length of its rich history, told Patch. "My husband and I were vendors for the very first fair, with our 7-month-old son. We sold pumpkins, corn stalks, Indian corn, gourds."

Young, who has been involved for all 47 years with the fair, said the best part for her is the competitions. "When you see someone win a blue ribbon for the first time, and they jump up and down, so happy just for a blue ribbon for something they made, whether it be a knitted pair of socks or a quilt, it's wonderful."

The fair, Young said, is a longtime tradition and important to generations of Riverhead residents. "It shows that we are a good, all-around welcoming community that loves our town," she said.