Visitors look at home heating products displayed by Mayor Wilbur Fredericks at the Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Country Fair, which ran annually from 1950 to 1994. (File photo by Ann Genader)
Businessmen looked to the annual Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Country Fair as a prime source for advertising their services and products.
Two men who went all out with their displays at the fairgrounds were Mayor Wilbur Fredericks and Robert Nicholson, both of Oak Ridge.
They never failed to attract curious crowds with their displays featuring new energy products, including those for home heating.
Both men saw the importance of newspaper advertising and public displays and credited them with much of their success in the years they were in business.
Fredericks’s heating items were coal-fired, and Nicholson’s fuel source was propane gas. One year, there were so many people crowded around Nicholson’s display that it was almost impossible for those in the back of the crowd to see it.
He had dressed a mannequin in street clothes and placed it in his products display. A microphone was installed to enable the “man” to speak.
Nicholson was hidden from sight but was able to speak into the microphone, enabling the dummy to communicate with the people viewing it. If he recognized someone, he addressed the person by first name with a comment or question, such as “How are you today, Mary?” Or the mannequin might make a comment like “That’s a nice tie you are wearing, John.”
The gimmick brought many curious people to the booth. Many still were talking about it months after the fair shut down for the season.
It’s unknown how many products were sold because of it but it certainly got attention!
Expert gardener
Fredericks was an expert and devoted gardener and his display of home-grown vegetables and flowers took many blue ribbons at the fair each year.
His gladioli were always stunning, featuring unique and varied colors. He had special refrigerators in his home for storing flowers he planned to enter in the competition.
The blooms he chose to enter were cut and harvested the evening before the fair and were stored in his refrigerators to ensure they were at their top stage of development.
Fredericks also was proud of his vegetable garden and the produce he grew. One year, maybe more, he brought his prize-winning gourds to the Lakeland Bank and displayed them for customers to see.
Fredericks and Nicholson co-founded Lakeland after they became tired of having to drive many miles to other towns to do their banking. Lakeland operated for more than 50 years until its merger with Provident Bank in 2024.
Fredericks, whose ancestors settled in the area long before his birth, said he was gardening with his family for a long time. “In fact, I was doing this ever since I could first remember,” he said.
Many prize ribbons
During the years of the fair, he brought home so many prize ribbons for his entries that when the fair ended after 44 years, he had a very large collection.
In 1979, for example, he was awarded six first-prize ribbons for his pumpkin, turban squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, zucchini and vegetable basket display. He also won seven second-place ribbons for cherry tomatoes, summer squash, peppers, parsley, lettuce, tomatoes and green beans.
After Fredericks’ longtime friend Horace Smith retired to Orlando, Fla., he returned to his native Oak Ridge annually to help Fredericks carry the heavy collection of vegetables to the fair for his display.
Heather and Haley Perry, daughters of Fire Chief/Mayor Stewart Perry and his wife, Carol, were winners with their Baby Parade floats for many years. In 1979, they took first place for their garden produce of cantaloupes and beets along with second place for their sunflowers and third place for wax beans.
Dennis, Mike and Annmarie Post of Newfoundland were awarded a first-place ribbon for their unique celery plant, which drew a great deal of interest.
That same year, Nathan Sanders of Macopin entered his garden squash measuring as long as 2 feet each.
Others known for their abundant vegetable gardens included F.W. Makepeace of Milton and Paul Sarli, William Menschner, C. Coursen, Ronald McNeir and Keith Miles, all of Newfoundland.
In 1964, Karen Johnson of Oak Ridge won a blue ribbon for her Children’s Basket.
Young gardeners
Russell Post, then 6, and Douglas Post, 4, both of Newfoundland, won a blue ribbon for their garden produce entry in the fair vegetable show. A card with their display of two tomatoes, a cucumber and some beans noted that the boys planted and watered their garden throughout the summer with no parental help. “The harvest was small but a good start for the young boys,” it said.
Mrs. Harold Barney of Lindy’s Lake won a blue ribbon in the hobby competition with the egg tree that she created.
At the 1964 Community Fire Company Fair, Fredericks joined others in admiring a $10,000 Shelby automobile with a 345-horsepower motor that was on display. The vehicle took second place in a race earlier that year at Sebring, Fla.
In 1976, Fair Committee members were Daniel Egan, Turv Inman, LeRoy Tice, Ron Stiansen, Roger Cooper and Eugene Schnebelen. Show chairpersons were Fannie Dyr, handicrafts; Mrs. LecRoy Tice, baking; Lydia Sargent, Baby Parade; Mrs. Robert Bogert, flower show; Mrs. David Liss, vegetables; and Ed Bower, pet show.
In 1977, Egan, Cooper, Stiansen and Tice again served on the Fair Committee and were joined by Gordon Vreeland, Herben Moser, Richard Betty, Stewart Perry and James Latham. Vicky Parente became committee head for the baking show and the other committee chairpersons remained the same.
In 1971, Woman’s Club of West Milford members who assumed chairmanship responsibilities for the flower show were Jane Fredericks, Peggy Zester, Evelyn Andreson and Anne Vogel. “Travels with flowers” was the general theme.
“Alaska” called for a modern arrangement and “Hawaii” was a tropical arrangement. Japan was “In the Oriental Manner” and Africa was a composition with foliage predominating.
The children’s artistic categories included a “By the Sea” arrangement interpreting the seashore; “Mountains” was an arrangement with rocks as part of the design.
When a torrential rainstorm abruptly ended the pet show at the fair in 1966, the day still ended on a high note. Event chairman Kenneth Norman made entrants in contests for ribbons smile when he announced, “All entrants will be awarded a blue ribbon!” It was a good day for the judges of the show too, because they knew they would have had a difficult task.
Robert Warren was there with a shopping cart filled with puppies. Karen Fritz of Oak Ridge had a chicken and a pigeon ready for the show. And many dozens of dogs were entered in the competition.