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Wander over to Fairfield's Town Green on September 12 for a Fall Festival with an historical twist. On display is an old-fashioned marketplace with beekeepers, a blacksmith at work, goat milk soaps and local fruit and vegetable stands. Stroll through the Sun Tavern and Academy Schoolhouse and then craft a baseball pennant for your favorite team in the KidZone. Sports (and history) lovers will get a kick out of seeing how baseball used to be played when The Newtown Sandy Hooks go up against the New York Gothams in two vintage baseball exhibition games, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., in the field behind the Fairfield Museum. The teams play by the late 1800s rules, with uniforms and equipment that mimic those of the era.Vintage baseball (or base ball, as it was written originally) seems to be carving out a niche locally. Under the aegis of The Vintage Base Ball Association, The Newtown Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Club was organized in 2005, making it the first Fairfield County vintage team formed. Now there are two others, in Bridgeport and Ridgefield. The Vintage Base Ball Association is the repository of a cache of baseball history, including the game's rules from long-ago decades. The 1884 rules called for a baseball that was "composed of woolen yarn" that "contains not more than one ounce of vulcanized rubber in mould form, and (it should) be covered in leather. It must be furnished by the Secretary of the League, whose seal shall be final evidence of the legality of the ball." And among an umpire's duties in 1884 was making sure there was no "Laziness or loafing of players in taking their places in the field..." For those passionate about the sport, the Festival's vintage exhibition games will give it a new spin. The Fall Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the Fairfield Museum's website.
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