To the Editor:

My husband and I attended the 2015 Altamont Fair as we do every year, except 2014 due to surgery. In the past, we’ve always had a good time, but this year’s experience was anything but good.

We always go early to see the draft horse show and the poultry barn. It was difficult to get advance info on the horse show; the people I was able to reach on the phone would only say the draft horses would be there all week.

So, we went on Friday morning, Aug. 14. There were no signs anywhere showing where to park; we had to explore to find Gate 2 on the back road.

We got there around 8 a.m. as we always do, having known the horse show is always at 8:30. We paid our $17 each and entered. 

The poultry barn was closed but had a big sign on the door saying the exhibit was wonderful. We figured to come back to it.

The draft horses weren’t where they always are, so we asked an event staff person in a cart. I also asked him for a ride since I just had another surgery two weeks before (but really wanted to come). He told me the draft horses were around the other side of the ring and left. 

Everyone who works the fair has always been so nice, but this fellow wasn’t. So much for friendliness. 

When we got to the other side of the ring, there were only six Belgians, no Percherons or Shires, and we found (by talking to an exhibiter who was just packing up) that was all there was going to be, and the carriage pulls were at noon.

What happened to all the other classes? We hear the draft horse show was rained out last year so they decided not to have them anymore. (They couldn’t have told us this on the phone?)  

So we went back to the poultry barn, and it still was not open. We asked one event staff person after another when the poultry barn would open and each of them said they didn’t know, but ask that person. 

Anyway, it was now 8:30. We wanted our money back. The ticket people couldn’t do that so my husband had to go to the main office many buildings away. He went in and told our story to a young, bored kid at the front desk. When the main honcho came out in her officious way, the kid started haltingly to tell her the story. My husband politely interrupted and stated that he could tell the story himself. 

The honcho got very upset and told my husband that he was the rudest person she had ever met. When she allowed herself to listen to my husband’s questions, she said several surprising things:

— There was no poultry show because of the avian flu. Why wasn’t that information posted on the poultry barn door or the fair’s website?

— The fair opens at 10 a.m. However, the schedule for that day on the website began with the horse show at 8:30, as they’ve always been in previous years. Why weren’t we told when we called? Why didn’t the website tell people not to come before 10 a.m. if that’s when the fair opens? Why did the event staff at the gate take our money and let us in without comment at 8 a.m.?

She then reluctantly gave him back our money and called security to escort him from the grounds. He came to the gate where I was waiting and we left. 

When I started to add up all the wrongs of that half hour, I realized the public had to know about how the fair was being handled, hence this letter. 

I spoke to a few folks who live in Altamont and was told the fair is being turned into a kids’ ride fair. I called the mayor’s office and asked for help getting a call from the fair’s owners. The mayor’s staff were told my husband was so rude that the kid had started crying and that they would not call us.

This is both sad and funny. Anyone knowing my husband, Leonard Laub, knows he is a thoughtful gentleman. That this woman was so pre-belligerent towards him is almost comical (maybe her belligerence scared the kid).

That fair management doesn’t want customer feedback on what was not right about the fair is sad. I heard this woman is doing well there. Maybe she is, but we will never go back, and I would venture to say many others are also not going back because the fair is becoming something it was not intended to be.

Bonnie Kohl

Westerlo