The Grange Fair - An American Tradition begins in January. Like the farming year, the film methodically measures time through three seasons of anticipation and hard work. The diversity of individuals profiled in the film illustrates the Fair's multi-generational quality. The narrative begins with the words of 87-year-old Ruth Wolfe, who was taken to her first Grange Fair in 1916 when she was six months old. Now she faces the possibility of missing her eighty-sixth consecutive Fair because of health problems. Her voice carries us through the stories that weave the film together.
At the other end of the spectrum, we meet several young 4-H members as they prepare stock animals for competition and sale. We watch in fascination as these very young people struggle to handle animals that sometimes are not very cooperative, and we hear them talk about their love for farming, despite the hard work involved. The Grange Fair follows these young men and women, and their parents, through the nerve-wracking process of presenting their animals to the judges. We also meet people like Martha Dietrich, who gardens and cans and makes lace for competition, and Pam Walker, who has waited for a tent site for seventeen years.
The Grange Fair - An American Tradition is superbly filmed and edited. The pace is leisurely, but the photography is beautiful, filled with heart-tugging images. The profiled individuals are captured so naturally, they often seem unaware that a camera is present at all. There is no voice-over narration. Even the "hand written" font used for the title cards adds to the overall mood. I was mesmerized throughout two viewings of the film. I have only one minor criticism. The historical information about the Grange Fair at the very beginning seems rushed. Both the narration and the vintage photographs zip by, in contrast to the pace of the rest of the film. Some additional history and old photos or footage are worked into the film as it continues, but I would have liked a little more context to begin with.
Several speakers in the film make points about the importance of farming, and of the family farm in particular. They touch on an issue that has personal and political significance for me. My mother was born on a farm, and I have never lived farther than walking distance from working farms of some kind. I grew up going to agricultural fairs, and I still love them. I've grown vegetable gardens, canned produce, picked apples, studied beekeeping, and even raised chickens. I have a shelf full of books on homesteading and a keen interest in preserving heirloom seeds and livestock.
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