Schoharie County Sunshine Fair recovers from flood damage

Posted at: 07/27/2012 5:12 PM | Updated at: 07/27/2012 5:45 PM
By: Bill Lambdin

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COBLESKILL - Before almost anywhere else in the Capital Region Friday, the sunshine really did show up, proving the name of what is now the Schoharie County Sunshine Fair.

Standard bred horses raced on a half mile oval that until recently would have been more appropriate for steeplechasing.

["After the flood there were gouges in our track four feet deep," said fair president Doug Cater. "You actually couldn't lead a horse over it, talk about trying to race a horse over it."

The Cobleskill Creek that runs along the edge of the fairgrounds poured over its banks last September, flooding almost the entire property.

"The cattle barns or the horse barns, especially, we had to do a lot of flooring in them," Cater said. "It took a lot of flooring. The fencing out front, the fencing over around the race track. I mean our office was flooded. The carpet inside had to be redone. Every building we had to do some type of repairs."

Damage was estimated between 200 and 300-thousand dollars.

Newly installed paver flooring in the Hall of Agriculture was especially hard hit.

At one point 200 volunteers were helping fix up the non-profit organization's property.

The fair president says he was worrying about everything being ready almost up to Friday's opening.