Riverhead Country Fair canceled because of ongoing construction

The Riverhead Country Fair has been canceled for the second year in a row — this time because of ongoing construction in downtown Riverhead, the event’s organizers said.

“I've been doing the fair for 40 years, and it was the worst decision that we've ever had to make,” Susan Young, treasurer of Riverhead Townscape, which organizes the fair, said in an interview Tuesday.

Last year’s country fair was canceled two days before the event because of an incoming nor’easter.

This year, construction fencing, barriers and equipment are spread throughout the center of the downtown business district as part of development projects billed by the town as key to its revitalization plans.

“We felt that we really didn't have the space for the fair this year because of the construction,” Young said. “So, we felt for the safety of everyone, it was best to cancel.”

The fair typically brings thousands of people to downtown Riverhead each fall for vendors, food and drink, live music and carnival activities. It features contests and displays of locally grown produce and flowers, farm equipment, homemade quilts and homemade canned and baked goods. It is typically held in October.

Contractors have begun preparing the site of a demolished building across from The Suffolk theater, adjacent to Riverhead Town Square, for a new five-story boutique hotel and condominium complex. To the east, construction is underway on a five-story mixed-use apartment building.

Sandwiched between those sites is the town-owned East End Arts campus, which the fair uses to host displays and contests. Part of it is currently being used as a construction staging area. The campus is also slated for reconstruction as part of the town square plan, including work to mitigate flooding.

Organizers discussed other possible locations for the fair, including Riverhead Town Hall and near the Long Island Rail Road station, but decided those spaces were not adequate for the fair, Young said.

Construction related to the town square is multiphased and expected to take several years. Young said organizers will decide next year whether to resume the fair.

First held in 1976, the fair was created to draw people downtown. 

“Hopefully next year we can come back bigger and better and stronger,” Young said.