For decades, Westport kids have marked the end of the school year by an event having nothing to do with teachers or books.
The Yankee Doodle Fair roars into town either days before, or days after, the final bell rings. It’s as reliable a start to summer as any tradition could be.
The last 2 years have been different. COVID canceled the event in 2020; last year, it was pushed from June to September.
But now the Yankee Doodle Fair is back. It opened last night; it continues tonight (Friday, 6 to 10 p.m.), tomorrow (Saturday, 1 to 10 p.m.), and Sunday (1 to 5 p.m.), on the Westport Woman Club’s Imperial Avenue grounds
As always, it’s a major fundraiser for the WWC.
And — as these photos from Yankee Doodle Fairs past show — it’s major fun.
A classic carousel, at the Yankee Doodle Fair.
This is noted writer Parke Cummings. He may have walked over from his home on the corner of South Compo and Bridge Street.
Marjorie Teuscher and her son Phil. Her husband — a doctor — owned real estate downtown, including the building that was most recently Tavern on Main. Phil — now all grown up — still lives in Westport.
Pam Blackburn — who sent these photos from her father, George — is shown here with her sister Perii and their mom, Jessica Patton Barkentin.
The Yankee Doodle Fair, as shown in the August 11, 1947 issue of Life Magazine.
Before the Westport Woman’s Club bought their Imperial Avenue clubhouse (and parking lot next door), the Yankee Doodle Fair was held on Jesup Green. This shows National Hall (then Fairfield Furniture) in the background, across the river.
BONUS RIDE: In the final season of “I Love Lucy” — after the Ricardos and Mertzes moved to Westport — Lucy and Ethel celebrated a fanciful “Yankee Doodle Day.” The poster about the Yankee Doodle celebration read: “Statue Dedication at Jessup (sic) Green.”
