BETHLEHEM – Every year the Bethlehem Fair brings in thousands of attendees, making it a staple event to the ending summer season in Connecticut.
For Woodbury FFA students, this means their months of preparation are finally on display, with many students competing and showing their work in various facets throughout the weekend, from animal showings, floriculture arrangements, to scrapbooks.
Woodbury FFA senior Chloe Walsh, who serves as this year’s Community Outreach chair, and was last year’s Chapter Reporter and chair of the scrapbook committee, says the FFA scrapbooks are a unique part of the chapter’s history.
“It’s important to see how our organization has bloomed, from 1928 to now,” Walsh said. “It shows how much bigger it is than ourselves to have national scrapbooks go to national competitions.”
Taking scrapbooks from the 1980s and ‘90s to a fair might seem strange, but Walsh explains the profound connection many community members have to these books.
“It’s something that needs to be shown so people can see how our students respond to our organization’s activities,” Walsh said, noting its value is higher than just scrolling photos online. “They’re records that are more detailed. It shows what has happened 50 years ago, and what has changed. They also help to show how the media responds to our organizations, through newspaper clippings and photos.”
Similarly, Woodbury FFA greenhouse production teacher Eric Birkenberger found his role as scrapbook committee advisor to be a crucial one.
“I think capturing history in general is important,” Birkenberger said. “The FFA and vo-ag at the time had an important role in the community, so I think having that historical documentation, it’s important.”
Birkenberger said the Bethlehem Fair remains a significant event for the Woodbury FFA, which began in 1920.
“Specifically, I think there’s a lot of value at the Bethlehem Fair, because Bethlehem is in our district,” Birkenberger said. “There could have been people attending the fair that could have been in those scrapbooks or they were here throughout the years of those scrapbooks.”
