ALTAMONT — Growing up in East Berne, Amy Anderson remembers returning home from elementary school with a report card that came with a ticket to the Altamont Fair, and her mother gathering up the tickets to be used at the end of the summer.

Anderson says her family would begin their day at the fair at Gate 5, having apple cider doughnuts for breakfast and visiting the museums and farm animals before going to the rides on the midway.

“I think that we grew up learning to appreciate the museum and to appreciate the animals,” she said.

Today, as manager of the fair, Anderson oversees events during the fair as well as events that occur at the fairgrounds, such as the Scottish Games and Apple Festival. This is Anderson’s second year as manager, and she had spent four years in the fair’s offices before. Her position is year-round, often booking major events for the fair the fall or winter before.

Anderson got her position in the fair’s offices after being recommended by the former manager’s minister, as Anderson had worked with the church before. However, Anderson’s experience with the Altamont Fair stretches further back. In 1985, she was crowned Miss Altamont Fair, but her interest really began as a child.

“I always wanted to be a part of the fair,” said Anderson, remembering seeing other children with their farm animals at the fair. “I was envious,” she added.

Anderson’s family bought a billy goat to enter into the fair, just to find out that only female goats could be entered. The family then bought two rabbits, thinking they were two females, when in fact one was male, and they ended up with “litters and litters” of rabbits.

Although Anderson wasn’t able to partake in the animal exhibits, she still has fond memories of the fair, such as buying “bird calls” from a man who made whistles out of paper and a bit of metal, and seeing the first circus at the fair.

“That was the first circus I ever saw, sitting there in the grandstands,” she said.

This year’s fair will still have a circus, but will also host several new events. Anderson says there will be a baby animal exhibit that will educate children with lessons such as not buying baby chicks for Easter. The exhibit will feature piglets, kids, calves, ducklings, and chicks, including a “soccer game” between two “teams” of chicks on a rug with toys.

“If anyone needs to find me, I’ll either be at the pirate ship or with the baby animals,” said Anderson.

The pirate ship is part of a new event at the grandstand in which the “Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean” will be performing high-wire stunts.

Additionally, the fair will also be exhibiting the Budweiser Clydesdales. The giant draft horses, which are owned by Anheuser-Busch, stand approximately six feet tall at the shoulder and weigh about 2,000 pounds, according to a press release from the fair. The horses must be bay in color, have four white legs, a blaze of white on the face, and a black mane and tail. The horses will be hitched to the company’s red beer wagon and will be featured in the fair’s parade on Saturday.

Other new events include a series of free games for kids to play at the various free museums around the fair, each game with an educational angle to it.

“We focus on agriculture,” said Anderson, “But there were parts that were lacking: the educational part, the horticultural part.”

Anderson explained that there will be raised-bed gardens placed throughout the fair to teach onlookers that “anybody can grow tomatoes in their backyard in a pot,” which covers the horticultural angle.

The games at the museum include a hula-hooping contest at the Circus Museum, a catapult-building contest at the Farm Machinery Museum, a matchbox car race at the Auto Museum, and water colors to paint with at the Art Museum.

The Farmhouse Museum’s exhibit will be combining gardening with wartime memorabilia, including images of farmers during wartime, and copies of propaganda promoting victory gardens.

The museum exhibits are mostly run by volunteers.

“I cannot stress how valuable our volunteers are,” said Anderson, “Some of them have been doing this for 20 years.”

For food and drink, the fair will host a farmers’ market featuring state-produced goods, as well as a tasting of local beer and spirits on Thursday and Friday, and local wine on Saturday and Sunday. Featured drinks include wine from the Thousand Islands, and “Death Wish Vodka,” which is made from the Saratoga-produced Death Wish Coffee. The Cheesecake Factory will also be hosting a chicken-salad making competition.

Anderson says the unique aspect to the Altamont Fair is its blending of rural and urban.

“We’re not a traditional country fair,” she said, “But we’re certainly not a city fair either.”

Altamont Fail serves three counties: Albany, Schenectady, and Greene.

Anderson described how a range of people come to the fair, from children out of the city amazed at seeing farm animals to children from the country, taking care of those animals. She says the the number of people who come range from 60,000 to 100,000, but that rain in recent years may have reduced the number of people.

“Without rain, I can’t even to begin to imagine,” she said.

Anderson added that fair-goers should not be discouraged by the rain, but instead take advantage of the shorter lines.

“I still get to eat all the fair food, I still get to watch all the competitions, and the circus is in the tent,” she said.

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The Altamont Fair will take place at the Altamont fairgrounds at 129 Grand Street, Altamont, NY 12009, from Tuesday, Aug. 16 to Saturday, Aug. 20, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 21, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.. Tickets are $15 Tuesday and Wednesday, $17 Thursday through Sunday, and $15 if purchased in advance online. Tickets include admission, attractions, parking, music, Circus Hollywood, and rides. Children under 36 inches enter for free, but rides are not included. Free admission including rides will be offered on Wednesday until 4 p.m. to senior citizens, Grange members, active duty military members, and veterans (identification is required).