LEGISLATURE STUFF - Not Too Soon for Thinking Summer

CAIRO - Summer will likely be coming so there is no time like the present for the Greene County Legislature to think about the annual Youth Fair.

County lawmakers have traditionally been strong supporters of the Fair which celebrated its 70th anniversary, last July.

Not much has changed regarding the homespun tribute to agriculture since the late Alfred Partridge founded the event, in 1949, in the mountaintop town of Ashland as part of a small 4-H Club festival.

That seed has grown to be a cherished gathering, attracting thousands of visitors to the current site at Angelo Canna Park in the town of Cairo.

And as certain as the seasons changing, the legislature provides funding to help keep the Blue Ribbon animal shows and hands-on farm experience flourishing, recently setting aside $40,000 toward that mission.

Those dollars are made available to the Greene County Agricultural Society to assist with the conduct and administration of the Fair.

The Youth Fair is near and dear to the heart of more than one lawmaker, including Harry Lennon (District 8, Cairo) who grew up in Cairo, warmly remembering the living landmark. 

Lennon, emphasizing admission to the festivities are free-of-charge, says, “the Youth Fair is and always has been important to Greene County.

“At the end of the day, this is about children,” Lennon says, with literally generations of families participating over the past seven decades.

If it is late July in the Catskills that means the Youth Fair is underway. The great-grandsons of Mr. Partridge are now mingling with kindred spirits within the farming community.

Legislature chairman Patrick Linger likewise has good cause to cherish the roundup. His wife was raised on a farm in the town of New Baltimore, attending and showing horses at the Fair.

Investment in the Fair is not limited to regular operations. Lawmakers also recently approved a resolution for an increase of $25,000 related to the construction a Butler Building at the park.

County leaders previously earmarked $225,000 for the project. “It will allow the organizers to consolidate equipment and materials that are spread out over twenty-seven areas,” county administrator Shaun Groden says.

Work has started, encountering an unexpected drain line that needed to be re-routed, determining it was better to move the drain rather than an already-dug foundation hole.

The lion’s share of the cost, $175,000, has a unique source, coming from an accumulation of slow-but-sure nickel returns on recyclable cans and bottles dropped off at county waste transfer stations. 

Occupation of the Butler Building is expected this summer, constructed on a hill near an existing structure that hosts the Fair’s yearly craft exhibits.

Meanwhile, the county sheriff’s department has been a beehive of activity, being the subject of several resolutions passed by the legislature.

A specially-suited pooch was purchased after Sheriff Pete Kusminsky determined there is an “extraordinary need for a K9 to be trained in explosive detection,” anticipating the retirement of K9 Haas.

K9 Haas will be going to doggie pasture at the end 2025 after dedicated duties and there was a year-old male Belgian Malinois available from 

Darkhorse K9 Service, a firm proven to breed reputable dogs.

Sheriff Kusminsky’s office was authorized to use $8,000 from an existing account for the transaction. Training was slated to begin in January.

Lawmakers authorized the acquisition of a new 31-foot Full Cabin Life

Proof Boat after Sheriff Kusminsky similarly determined the need.

An acceptable craft is available from Life Proof Boats by Inventech Marine Solutions LLC through GSA contract pricing. The money comes from an Emergency Services Equipment Fund, the resolution states.

Reimbursement up to $100,00 on the $549,843 acquisition is accessible in State Aid through New York Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the resolution states.

The reimbursement program provides for, “adequate enforcement of the navigation law within our State,” a document with the resolution states.

And lawmakers approved a sheriff’s department budget amendment after the county treasurer received and deposited two insurance checks that totaled $80,000, or $40,000 each.

The checks were issued by Municipal Insurance Reciprocal for payment of damages to and replacement of a 2023 Dodge Durango and 2024 Dodge Durango sustained, last October, the resolution states.