Orange County Agricultural Society at the County Fair, a Lasting Institution

The 184-year-old society faces dwindling participation and interest. ‘People don’t want to do crafts,’ laments one longtime fairgoer.

Dawn Volkmer at the Orange County Agricultural Society exhibit at the Orange County Fair in Middletown, N.Y., on July 27, 2025. Oliver Mantyk/Epoch Times

ORANGE COUNTY, N.Y.—The Orange County Agricultural Society (OCAS) is as old as the Orange County Fair itself, and their histories are inseparable.

The OCAS’s origins begin in 1808, when farmers in Orange County formed an agricultural society to help start an Orange County fair. They tried several times to start the fair over the years but failed to gain public interest. County leaders finally took notice in 1841 and officially formed the OCAS.