Harness racing has long been a staple of the Canfield Fair. The races used to be held in front of an old wooden grandstand that was replaced with a concrete grandstand in 1925.

Since that time, a lot of horses have come through the winner’s circle. Among the top performers was Single G, who set a longstanding record of 2 minutes, 13-1/4 seconds in the new grandstand. Currently, the track record is 1 minute, 54 seconds.

Many fairgoers don’t know the CHHA Museum is located to the south of the race track. It shares a building with the fair’s blacksmith.

Inside the museum are artifacts and paraphernalia related to harness racing.

Harness races during the fair. (File photo by JT Whitehouse)

Among the museum’s collection are racing silks. These are the uniforms worn by the drivers that contain specific colors and patterns. Each one has to be registered with the governing body.

 “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,” said Fair Director Elwood Woolman. “Each is unique and stays with that driver.”

It is the jacket, or silks, they are identified with during races at the fair. In the museum, there are silks that are over 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,” Ron Stacy, curator of the museum, said.

The museum has an important photo that anyone in the race venue will know about. It’s a photo of the late Jean and Dominic Staffery, the driving forces behind the formation of the CHHA. They owned a horse named Missouri Time that was featured on a fair collectible chip.

Harness races during the fair. (File photo by JT Whitehouse)

Woolman began a fun project several years ago when he came up with collectible, poker-style chips. Each chip has the Canfield Fair rooster on one side and a feature of the fair on the other. Each year, three or four chips are released with different subjects. One each year is dedicated to a famous Canfield race horse — the Missouri Time chip was released in 2023.

For 2025, the new chips will feature the Senior Fair sheep department, the horse and pony pulls, and a harness race horse that set a record in 2023. The museum may have the collectible chips available and can offer them to those who ask.

“The chips are usually free and offered at the venue it features,” Woolman said. “For example, the Senior Fair sheep chip will be available around the sheep barn. You just have to search for them.”

He said the chips were originally created to bring attention to various sections of the fair. The chips also were accepted during a race on Monday with the value of a $2 bet. Over the past few years of the chip program, none have been turned in.

“Not one chip has been turned in for a bet,” Woolman said. “In fact, we have not seen any surface on Ebay or any other auction site.”

Ron Stacy, curator of the Harness Horse Racing Museum at the Canfield Fairgrounds, shows the lower set of pockets found on race jackets from the 1950s. (File photo by JT Whitehouse)

He said it means people are collecting and saving the chips. Part of that reason may be the fact only 500 chips for each subject are made, then the mold is trashed. Each chip has its own distinct color as well.

“People are collecting and saving them,” Woolman said. “With all the venues and animal events at the fair, this is an endless collectible.”

He said the plan is to keep offering 2 to 4 new chips each year.

The chips are another way the CHHA is attracting fairgoers to the harness races on Saturday and Monday afternoons. There will also be wiener dog races on Saturday and live musical performances between each race.

The Harness Horse Racing Museum at the Canfield Fairgrounds would not be complete without this photograph of Jean and Dominic Staffery, founders of the Canfield Harness Horsemen Association. Both have passed on, but have left a legacy in the harness racing arena and at the Canfield Fair. (File photo by JT Whitehouse)

Fair Director Elwood Woolman shows off the collectible chips offered at various venues inside the fair. This year will see the addition of several new chips representing senior fair sheep, horse and pony pulls, and a race horse from 2023. (File photo by JT Whitehouse)