This story by Jordan Cuddemi was published by the Valley News on Jan. 28.
TUNBRIDGE — Officials with the Tunbridge World’s Fair will have to wait for a spring thaw to assess the amount of damage from a recent ice jam to at least a half dozen barns on the roughly 30-acre fairgrounds.
The good news? All of the damage can be repaired, and this year’s fair in September won’t be impacted, World’s Fair vice president Gordon Barnaby said on Monday.
“We are good at bouncing back,” said Barnaby, a member of the fair’s board of directors for more than 35 years. “It could be worse.”
Because of warming temperatures and heavy rain last Thursday, about eight livestock barns took a beating as a massive ice buildup flowed off the First Branch of the White River and crashed into the structures that typically house oxen, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and horses during the fair.
Fortunately, other buildings on the property that house expensive fair equipment, and which double as fee-based storage for area residents’ campers, cars and boats, were unaffected by the ice.
On Monday, between 4 and 5 feet of ice covered the ground both inside and outside of the barns, many of which had broken doors that will need repairing. Just what else will need tending to remains unknown until the ice thaws and moves down river, World’s Fair secretary Peg Sherlock said.
Barnaby, Sherlock and treasurer Doug Giles walked around atop the ice on Monday and compared the scene to past significant weather events. A “high water” mark from the flood of 1978 adorned the side of one of the barns; the ice sat roughly two feet below that line.
It’s no surprise that the fairgrounds have seen their fair share of flooding. After all, the grounds are in the floodplain. That aside, the trio had trouble pinpointing a year where the ice had built up quite this high.
“We had ice here as (recently) as two or three years ago, but it wasn’t as bad as this,” Barnaby said. “It usually comes through and gets right out.”
“It’s impressive,” Sherlock said. “But it sure makes a mess.”
In a field of unknowns, one thing is for sure: When the ice thaws, Tunbridge-area residents will be there to assist in any rebuilding efforts.
Fair officials posted pictures of the damage on Facebook on Sunday, and within 24 hours, dozens of people had pledged their time.
“We will have help down here as soon as the ice starts going out,” Barnaby said.
Barnaby, who scoped the fairgrounds out at the start of the weekend, said on Monday that the landscape “is looking better now than it did on Friday.”
The river was partially diverted out of its banks and onto fairground property and is running next to the Fiber Nook barn.
The hope is it will redirect itself back into its bed and take the ice with it, Barnarby said.
“It’s improving,” he said.
But the fair isn’t out of hot — or cold — water yet. If the temperatures fluctuate too much and send more ice downriver toward the fairgrounds before the current ice has a chance to break up, the situation could worsen, Barnaby said.
For now, he and the others remained positive.
In addition to the barn doors, the new animal washing station near the cattle and oxen barns will need fixing, as will at least one fence on the property. The front of the Fiber Nook building sustained some damage.
The Tunbridge World’s Fair has operated since 1867, except in 1918 due to the great flu epidemic, and during World War II, according to the fair’s Facebook page.
Asked whether the fair would go on uninterrupted this September, Barnaby didn’t even blink.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “It’ll be here, ready to go.”
