The Traveling Wheelchair

140 Main Street (Rte. 3A)
Marshfield, MA
Phone: 781-834-6629
www.marshfieldfair.org
 
Yesterday started out a nice sunny day so my friends and I headed to Marshfield Fair to have some fun and do a wheelchair accessibility review. There are many parking lots located all around the fair at local businesses and all charge $5 for parking. We parked in the South River School parking lot which is conveniently located across the street from the E entrance gate of the fair.

Admission tickets are sold at the gate. The cost for General Admission is $10, Children 6 & under FREE and all Disabled are FREE! The Marshfield Fair is open until Sunday August 15th and hours are on Monday – Friday from 12PM to 10PM and Saturday & Sunday from 10AM to 10PM. 

Immediately after we entered the gate the skies turned very dark and opened up with torrential rain. We heard thunder and saw lightening so my friends pushed me in my wheelchair quickly looking for cover. The nice employee working at the entry gate told us the closest place for cover was Agricultural Hall which was only a few yards from the gate. We headed there and noticed it had steps leading to the front entry door. We didn’t have time to look for a wheelchair accessible entrance so we went into Mathew’s Electric Exhibition Tent. Scott and his lovely daughter Julia were very kind and told us we could stay in their tent until the rain stopped. There was plenty of room in their exhibition tent too. Scott told us that he made sure there was enough space for persons in wheelchairs to browse inside the tent to see all of the electrical products.

The rain soon stopped so we headed out to check out this fair. There are nice paved walkways throughout the entire fair grounds which are very easy to maneuver a wheelchair around. My friends pushed my wheelchair for my Power Chair died last week and I am in my manual wheelchair until I get a new or loaner Power Chair.

We first decided to check out Agricultural Hall. There is wheelchair accessible ramp that leads to a rear entry door of Agricultural Hall. I saw many nice displays of flowers, art and garden stuff that are easy to see for they are displayed at a perfect height for me in my wheelchair. There is plenty of room in here for a wheelchair to maneuver too.

There is also a side door that takes you to the first floor of Agricultural Hall that is wheelchair accessible for it is at ground level. Here are Horticulture displays and they offer classes if you want to learn more about Sunflowers etc.

The Marshfield Fair has many concession stands and food vendors with great food to eat. The only place we found to have an indoor section where you can place and order and eat too is Erich’s Clam Shack. Erich’s Clam Shack is not wheelchair accessible for it has a few steps leading inside on one side and the other side has a small step to get in. We really wanted to eat in here because of the threatening skies so Justin and Ric lifted my wheelchair right up to the inside.

Once inside I found it is not wheelchair accessible for it only has a high counter with high stools. I used a stool as my table while I ate. The very nice man who works here told us that he asked the Town Building Inspector if he could place a small threshold ramp on the side with one step to make it accessible but was told that he had to make the whole place accessible or none at all. I never heard of this before? So it is still not accessible but the food was great!

We headed to check out the restrooms by following the white painted footprints on the paved walkway. We noticed that NONE of the picnic tables on the Fair Grounds  are wheelchair accessible at all for the benches don’t pull out and the end of the table is not extended to fit a person in a wheelchair.

There are two restrooms on the Fair Grounds. Both are clean and have attendants. There is a large handicap stall in both with all the ADA required safety grab bars. The sinks are accessible and the pipes are not covered but it doesn’t matter for there is only cold water and the pipes couldn’t get too hot.

There are many tents set up on the Ground Fairs where vendors are selling jewelry, clothes, hats, sunglasses and many other trinkets. All the tents that I went into are very wheelchair accessible and all the items for sale are nicely displayed at a good height for me to see. I loved trying on the sunglasses with the stripes but didn’t buy them for I could see blurry lines! I also saw a tent where a Chinese Massage Therapist was offering massages but the seats are not accessible and would be too awkward for a person with a physical disability to sit in.

We then headed to the Agricultural Exhibits. It is very wheelchair accessible and easy to get around in. It is like a farmer’s market and has many fresh produce, fruit and vegetables on sale and all are displayed at a good height for me to see and chose what I would like to buy.

Next to the Agricultural Exhibit is a large Grandstand that is not wheelchair accessible. It has steps leading up to it. This is where visitors to the fair can view various shows like the Motor Cross in which motorcycles race on dirt hills and Demolition Derby. The Motor Cross was to start at 5:30 yesterday but I couldn’t stay to see it. Persons in wheelchairs would need to sit someplace on the paved walkway to watch the shows.

I then saw many rides that looked like a lot of fun and wanted to try one.  My friends and I asked the attendants at the Merry Go Round if I could ride on it for there was an empty space that could fit my wheelchair and my friends said they could get me up on it. We were told “NO”. The attendant said it was a liability issue! Well then I spotted my dear friend Felicia who was with many of my other friends from Community Systems Inc (CSI) so we joined them for a while and had a fantastic time!

We saw another ride that my friends thought I could try and I was very excited. It is the ‘Arctic Blast’ ride. We asked Steve the nice attendant if my friends could lift me into the seat and ride on this and he said he needed to ask his boss. Steve went to ask his boss and came back smiling and said “Yes”. Ric and Justin lifted me out of my wheelchair and sat me in this ride.

Felicia, Leah, Tom, Jackie, Jen, Nicole, and Jason, my friends from CSI joined Justin, Ric and me on this ride and we all had a lot of fun! I rode with Justin and loved the way the ride went so fast around the corners and even loved it more when it went 69 mph in reverse! I am really thankful to Steve and Mushroom, the two attendants who let me go on this ride. I’ll remember the experience for years to come!

We said bye to our friends and headed to play some games. The attendants are all very nice at the game places. Most of the games are wheelchair accessible if you turn your wheelchair sideways. I had fun shooting water out of a gun at a target and even won a prize.

I also won a prize for picking up ducks. I couldn’t reach the ducks in the pool of water but the nice attendant put a lot of ducks on her lap and let me see how many I could pick up. I didn’t get many for I can only use one hand for my other hand is paralyzed but she gave me the biggest prize for trying!

The fair has some Fun Houses but none are wheelchair accessible because they have stairs instead of ramps leading to the entry. Other fairs I’ve been to have had Fun Houses that have ramps leading to the entry.

I got to see a Horse Stable with white carriages that the horses pull. It is owned by Hobby Knoll Stables in Duxbury. The carriages are not wheelchair accessible like some of our trolleys and trains are today. The horses are beautiful and all in stables for us to see.

We then headed to the Petting Zoo run by the ‘4 H Club of Plymouth County’. The animals are all in a few barns and it is very wheelchair accessible with much room to wheel around. My favorite animal is a Cow whose name is ‘Peppermint Patty’. She is one year old and black and white which is probably why she was named Peppermint Patty. She was somewhat shy when I first approached her in my wheelchair as many people even are. But Peppermint Patty and I became good friends and she loved resting her head on my lap!

There are many more things to do at the Marshfield Fair. There is a Pig Race Contest, Pony Pull, Horse Pull, Ox Pull, Lawn Mower Racing, Frying Pan Fling, Music Festival, Oldies Shows, Giant Pumpkin Contests, Fireworks, A Magic Theatre and even more. You can check the schedule of times of events on the website above. I really recommend this place to All of any age and for the disabled it is nice that you get in for FREE! This is a long wheelchair accessibility review because there is so much to see and some of it is accessible and some of it is not at all accessible.

We then decided it was time to leave. The sun was finally shining again but I had to get back home for Bryan from Hudson Home Health was bringing me a new demo Power Chair for me to try.

We all wanted to try a piece of fudge from Fudge Depot before we left. Fudge Depot is set up in a cabin but it is not wheelchair accessible for there is a small step to get in. My friends got me a piece of raspberry fudge that I had never tried and it was really delicious. We asked the man behind the counter why they didn’t put a small threshold ramp leading into the place and he told us that he asked the Town Building Inspector if he could place a ramp to make it wheelchair accessible yet was told ‘NO’. The reason was because the ramp would stick out into the paved pathway and would block some access for vehicles that come through. Yet we looked at this and a small threshold portable wouldn’t stick out much at all and could be moved for any vehicles coming through.

Wow – This is the second vendor who told us that he asked the Town if he could make his place accessible but was told “NO”. The reasons sound foolish to my friends and me!

I give Marshfield Fair TWO STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Three Stars they need to  place small threshold ramps at Erich’s Clam Shack and Fudge Depot, place a small roped off area marked handicap seating in front of the Grandstand so persons in wheelchairs can view the show and not get bumped into by people walking by, get some wheelchair accessible rides like some other places have, and place some wheelchair accessible picnic tables throughout the Fair Grounds. I especially like the wheelchair accessible picnic tables at  Scusset Beach State Reservation and Old Silver Beach.