HEATH — Town residents were in heaven this weekend as the 105th Heath Fair took place at the Heath Agricultural Society’s Fairgrounds.

The fair is an annual event and prides itself on being an “old school” agricultural fair with classic displays in the exhibition barn showing off the region’s best tomatoes and pickles, or competitions throughout the grounds where people face off with tractor, horse and lawn mower pulls.

Many love the competitions and come back year after year, putting their names down for the numerous ribbons presented throughout the weekend.

The exhibitions, which are judged anonymously, featured well this year with the barn’s newly renovated wooden walls. Organizers also put new tops on the old warped tables, giving all the entrees an added ‘pop’ for visitors to see.

Friday night is one of the most beloved at the fair, as people at the grounds that reside in the immediate area come out to enjoy the fireworks that start as soon as it is dark enough.

The first night of the fair began with an antique tractor parade and subsequent pull competition. Twelve-year-old Heath resident Mason Clark won this year’s 3,000-pound class competition. This was his second time competing in the antique tractor pull and his first time winning. He began competing in the lawn mower pull two years ago and won fifth place last year.

Clark said his father taught him how to repair his tractor, which he uses to move things at his house. Much of the tractor’s use, however, comes in competitions at the fair. He said he loves to come to the fair and watch the competitions throughout the weekend.

Buck Den Ouden also competed in the antique tractor competition, in the 4,800-pound class. Den Ouden has been competing for about 10 years and has won twice.

Den Ouden loves the antique tractor pull because, he explained, it shows off how well the machines were designed in the 1940s and 1950s. He enjoys seeing the nearly 50 antique tractors on the grounds Friday night to get a display of the different vintages and varieties from that time.

At the same time as the tractor pull, on the other side of the grounds, are the Bingo games. Local west county businesses contribute lots of prizes for winners to receive when they get the magic “Bingo” on their boards.

Charlemont resident Barbara Harris, who buys a weekend pass for the fair every year, won one of the games and received a $20 gift card to Catamount County Store and a free haircut from her son’s barber shop, Shear Perfection. Harris works as the Bingo caller at La Belle’s Rest Home, so she enjoys being able to play and win at the fair.

“I play Bingo every year. I don’t miss it,” she said. “People donate really good gifts.”

Harris explained between fireworks, Bingo and square dancing, Friday nights at the fair are “stacked.”

Square dancing is special to the fair, dance caller Doug Wilkins explained, because it is the last square dance that has regularly been happening in all of western Massachusetts (and likely the state). He said that there used to be regularly scheduled square dances every night of the week in the region in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

“People would work all day in the fields as farmers and then square dance until midnight,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins’ predecessor Ray Gay was an old-time caller at a bi-monthly Heath Square Dance for decades until he was diagnosed with emphysema and had to stop. That year, several guest callers were hired to run the dance until one day the caller showed up drunk. Young Wilkins, who had attended the dances for years and was also a singer, asked to call a dance. As he called what he thought would be the one dance, the caller snuck out the back door, leaving Wilkins to run the show. With help from Gay, Wilkins called the entire night and was hired for the next dance, setting himself up for a 40-year career as a square dance caller.

He explained the Eastern style of square dance at the fair is much easier to pick up than the Western style, which requires many classes to start on the dance floor.

“It is an old form of dancing; it has been around a long time,” Wilkins said.

Dancing in the barn on Friday night, Scott Gudell, who is from Heath and now lives in Sunderland, explained that he met his wife at the fair. On a Saturday night in 1985 he ate dinner at the fair a couple of tables away from Paula Gudell, who would later become his wife. Scott ended up chasing Paula down the runway of the fair and danced with her at the square dance for the rest of the night. The next day they hung out again at the horse pull, and now come back every year with their children. He hasn’t missed a fair since 1974.

“There is no fair like it, at least not anymore,” Scott said when asked why the fair is special. “I know so many people here; it’s home.”

Bella Carmela Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com