A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
Eleven county fairs, a folk school built around the fiddle tune it inspired, and the training programs turning newcomers into working farmers — thirty-two destinations across eighteen counties, most of them tied to a real calendar date rather than a year-round visit.
Eleven counties run their own fair, mostly clustered in August. Delaware County Fair in Walton is the region's largest, drawing 80,000-plus visitors over six days for its 137th run. Washington County Fair in Greenwich draws 130,000-plus over seven days with draft-horse demonstrations and open fiber shows. Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck and Orange County Fair in Middletown are both well over a century old (179th and 187th runs respectively), and Schaghticoke Fair is the third-oldest fair in New York State. Round out the calendar with Altamont Fair (Albany), Columbia County Fair (Chatham), Saratoga County Fair (175-plus years running), Ulster County Fair (New Paltz), Schoharie County Sunshine Fair (Cobleskill), and Sullivan County Fair (Ferndale).
Ashokan Center in Olivebridge is home to Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Music & Dance Camps — the gathering that inspired the fiddle tune "Ashokan Farewell" — alongside foraging walks and biannual Hoot festivals. Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne teaches blacksmithing, woodworking, and fiber arts, and Catskill Weaving School in Catskill runs a serious weaving and natural-dye curriculum. For plant medicine, Wild Gather and Foliage Botanics both run multi-month herbalism intensives rooted in the Hudson Valley bioregion, and Farm & Field in Chatham teaches fresh-leaf indigo dyeing on a working farm.
Glynwood Center in Cold Spring runs a structured Beginners' Farmer Training Program for people new to farming. Hudson Valley Farm Hub in Hurley trains farmers and agricultural workers alongside its Milestone Mill grain operation. Unadilla Community Farm is an off-grid permaculture education center with a 350-tree food forest, and Rensselaer Plateau Farm School teaches cheesemaking, butchery, and fermentation alongside farming fundamentals. FarmOn! Foundation runs a Farm Academy incubator and seed bank at the historic Empire Farm.
The fairs are almost all August affairs — check exact dates each year since they shift slightly. The folk schools and training programs generally require registration well in advance, especially the multi-month herbalism and farmer-training intensives.
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A fiddle tune, a 137th fair, a food forest with 350 trees — the Almanac's most crowded calendar page.