(Harness) racing into the past at Canfield Fair

Sep 29, 2023

Aug 28, 2023

Staff photos / J.T. Whitehouse ....Ron Stacy, curator of the Harness Horse Racing Museum at the Canfield Fairgrounds, showcases the popularity of harness horse racing in a variety of toys and games featuring the sport.

CANFIELD — In its fifth year at the Canfield Fair is the Harness Horse Racing Museum, displaying artifacts from the early days of harness racing in Canfield.

“We try to give people who have been involved in harness racing all their lives an exhibit that has them saying, ‘I remember that,'” museum curator Ron Stacy said. “For those who are new to it, they can see where it came from.”

The fair and museum opens Wednesday.

Each year the museum display changes and features a variety of race paraphernalia. Among the displays are “silks” or the jackets that drivers wear.

According to Stacy, each jacket has a different color, pattern and design, such as stars or stripes. Those final designs are registered according to Elwood Woolman, fair director in charge of harness racing.

“The United States Trotting Association checks the colors against others and will either award it to you, or tell you to go back to the drawing board,” Woolman said.

Silks are registered to the drivers. That’s the jacket they are identified with during races at the fair. In the museum, there are silks more than 60 years old. The older ones have a set of lower pockets that are not seen on modern ones.

“That is one way to tell the age,” Stacy said.

The museum also may have collectable chips that are circulating around the fair. Each year several new poker-styled chips are introduced and are available at certain locations including the museum. The chips are meant to be highly prized collectibles as only 500 of each are made.

For 2023 the chips include one of the oldest fair vendors, Myers Equipment; mule racing during the fair; and from the harness racing, the horse named Missouri Time.

Missouri Time was owned by Dominic and Jean Staffery, founders of the Harness Horsemen Association. They are featured in the museum because of all they have done for the sport. The horse will be featured at the museum as well as on this year’s collectable chips.

The only way to get one of the Missouri Time chips is to ask for one at the hay and grain building or at the Harness Racing Museum when it is open and staffed.

Another display at the museum holds toys and games that feature harness racing. The museum has an original Gilbert-branded slot-car track that featured the horses on a chassis with an electric motor.

Another unusual toy is a downhill race set where the horses and carts had steel wheels and rolled down a winding racetrack.

The displays in the museum are carefully organized by Ron’s wife Judy Stacy.

“She helps out and changes the display each year to keep things fresh,” Stacy said. “Some items are donated, others are on loan, and we are always looking for anything to do with harness horse racing.”

The museum is in the east half of the blacksmith’s shop centered around the speed barns at the south end of the race track. Stacy said they try to keep a 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. time frame to be open, and it is free to tour the museum and learn more about the harness racing program at Canfield.

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