Large crowds walk past food stands and games at the New Jersey State Fair/Sussex County Farm & Horse Show in Augusta on Saturday, August 5, 2017.Sussex County’s annual summer fair may be getting off to a stormy start Friday evening.
Organizers expect at least 100,000 will attend the nine-day fair, which concludes on Saturday, Aug. 12, fair spokesperson Kathy Cafasso said.“If it’s thunder and lightning, they won’t run the rides. If it’s a drizzle, then they do,” Cafasso said. The Crazy Mouse, a new addition to the Sussex County fair's carnival, getting a test ride in Frankford, New Jersey, Aug. 2, 2023Many of the fair’s other attractions are indoors or under tents, she said. An exception is the bull-riding demonstration, scheduled to start at 7 p.m.by spraying water on guests and making elephant jokes, will not be part of this year’s fair, Cafasso said.
The fair, for a second year, is planning a less noisy, “sensory-friendly” period — Tuesday, from noon to 2 p.m. — as an accommodation for children and adults with autism or sensory processing disorders.If all goes well, the day will also include the “rooster crow” performed by a 102-year-old volunteer Aldo Sayre in a quirky tradition that marks the official start of the fair.