Two Danbury men seek to be next 109th District state Representative Tickets to the event at 7:30 at the Palace Theater are $20. He says as time goes on, fewer people remember the fair, so Saturday night will be like a family reunion. Michael says there's still a lot of people that love the fair and long for anything associated with it. Paul Baker, the voice of the Racearena will be on hand along with the 1947 national baton twirling champion, who is now 81. Some of the features of tomorrow night's event are two former Danbury Fair queens, the voice of the race arena and other surprise guests. Michael, whose grandfather ran a stand at the fair, says history and music will lead the night. Review Director Billy Michael says the real memorabilia is the people who will be attending. Many people came up with the idea to pay tribute to the Fair 32 years after it closed.įair Vice President Jack Stetson's photos, many which have never been seen in public before, will be on display in the lobby of the Palace Theater along with other fair memorabilia. Some of the cars, like Art Knapp's Pinto, which ran at Danbury in 1975, were more bare-bones, pieces of sheet-metal bolted to a frame with a single, extremely uncomfortable-looking aluminum seat for the driver.The Great Danbury State Fair is being celebrated tomorrow night. Two years ago, Giardina, who lives in Katonah, N.Y., tracked down his old car in Vermont, and after last year's reunion, had friend Lou Dilesi restore it to like-new condition. They want to come here and rub elbows with their old heroes.'Ĭars on display ranged from the 1936 Ford driven by the local racing legend Chick Stockwell to the modified Ford Pinto that Nick Giardina raced until 1981, then sold after the track closed. 'A lot of the old drivers are here,' Hansen said. Some, like Harry Hansen Jr., of New Fairfield, went on to race there themselves, and continued their racing careers at other tracks after Danbury closed.

But the Racearena lives on in the memories of the people who filled the stands, the drivers who raced there and the sons and daughters whose earliest memories involved watching their fathers roar around the dirt oval. The track, which opened in 1932, closed along with the Danbury Fair after the 1981 season. 'The weather is great, and that's a great calling card for us.' 'It's going to be a great turnout,' SNYRA member Fred Blore predicted, as he and other volunteers attached checkered wristband after checkered wristband to the outstretched arms of the people streaming through the door.

Danbury racearena reunion