Saturday is 'A Country Day at Pardon Gray'

The Burma Shave signs are up along Pardon Gray Preserve on Main Road - a sure sign the Tiverton Land Trust is gearing up for 'A Country Day at Pardon Gray' on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Since the first fair in 2001, families have enjoyed children's games and activities, exhibits and demonstrations, grilled barbeque and pie a la mode, music and hay rides, and the marketplace of artists, crafters and other vendors.

This year the community can:

• Operate a working model of the Rose Island Lighthouse. 
• Grind corn 
• Playdrums 
• See bows and arrows, furs and cultural objects from the HaffenrefferMuseum's Natives of South Eastern New England collection 
• Watch the Flying Wings perform precision remote control aerial stunts

Patrons will be invited to enjoy the music of local musicians Gary Farias, Bocheck, Sibling Rivalry and the Tiverton High School Strings.

Embrace the start of fall and decorate a pumpkin. Take a hayride. Make bird nesting boxes with Tiverton High School woodworking students for minimal cost of materials. Climb a truck. Talk to members of the RI 2nd Regiment in Revolutionary War military dress, hang out with the larger than life Max Man from RI Resource & Recovery, and to McGruff.

Watch Granger Jerome's honeybee colony in action. Find cosmic objects through the Astronomical Society of Southern New England's huge telescopes. Have your soil tested or ask a Master Gardener a question. Get up close with a rescued horse, cow, goat, alpaca, sheep, duck and kittens.

See the New England Antique Tractor and Truck Association's antique tractors and check out the Tractor Pull competition, and Wires and Fires antique fire trucks. Shop the art and craft vendors. Watch or enter your dog in the Pooch Parade. Have your face painted by Girl Scouts and Tiverton Library Teen Council. Take photos of your kids behind cut-out farm props.

Watch kids try old fashioned games like sack races, bean bag toss, and horseshoes, catch magnetic fish in pools, guess by touch what's in the nature mysterybox, water the Garden Club's historic garden. See a training sailboat from Tiverton Yacht Club. Try your hand at an art activity with South Coast Artists.

Make giant bubbles. Learn about the new Tiverton Library, local public services,and Rhody Milk. Play "Can you Find It" with the Tiverton Historical Society. See Police and Fire Department vehicles and demonstrations.

Savor a low cost lunch of sausage, onions and peppers on torpedo rolls or other barbequed treats, homemade pie topped by Gray's ice cream, cold beverages, Coastal Roasters coffee, and cotton candy.

The Tiverton Land Trust is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to preserving the rural character and scenic beauty of Tiverton, RI for generations to come.