Norway Historical Society

Description

Sulky racing at the Oxford County Fair, held each September at the Oxford County Fairgrounds, Norway/Paris.

Only harness racing was featured at the fair. Two gaits were used: pacing and trotting. A horse that broke gait had to be taken back to the proper gait in order to finish the race. The horses in this photo are pacers heading out of the home stretch turn.

Although established in 1841, it was not until the early summer of 1856 that the Oxford Agricultural Aid Society purchased for the Oxford County Agricultural Society 13 acres of land situated on "the plains" between Norway and Paris. The racetrack probably was not completed in 1856, the first races being run at the fair in 1857.

In later years, training and racing were carried out at the track in appropriate seasons throughout the year. Taken in 1966 to provide a site for the Oxford Hills Cooperative High School, racing did not occur again at the Oxford County Fair until 2003, when a track was completed at the new fair grounds in Oxford.

View additional information about this item on the Maine Memory Network.