“Givers of Harmony”
David Chadbourne lived in Wellington and Harmony for all of his life. He was the owner of the last working dairy farm
in Harmony. Chadbourne Farms is still operating and is now run by David’s wife, Nancy. David was a dedicated volunteer
in Harmony. He was a member of the Harmony Fire Department for 48 years. As an adult, David was involved in the
Harmony Fair. He and longtime friend, Charlie Moninski, weighed horses for the horse pull for many years. He and
Charlie built the drag that we are still using today. David donated all the sand and gravel for the new fairground and
the Children’s area. Chadbourne sand has kept the horseshoe pits maintained for many, many years. Over the years,
David showed his animals at the fair and in the parade. He loved his oxen team. One of the oxen loved Pepsi, and the
other had an affection for beer. Because of their choice in beverages, David named them Bill and Bob after his old
friends Bill Patterson (who loved Pepsi) and Bob Patterson (who was known to have a beer on occasion). David loved
the Harmony Free Fair and never missed attending. He took pleasure in walking around the fairground, holding hands with
Nancy, enjoying the fair and visiting with friends. Of course Labor Day weekend would not be complete if he didn’t have
his annual cheeseburger and fries.
Charles “Charlie” Bagley lived the majority of his life in Harmony. He was very active in the Harmony Fire Department, the
Grange, and the Patriarchs Club. In the early 70's, Charlie and Rodney Campbell, then president of the club, heard about a
guy with a brand new Tilt-A-Whirl. They convinced him to bring it to Harmony for Labor Day. The ride guy came in to set
up, and he was furious when he saw the town. “I’m not gonna make any money here!” he fumed. “All I see is trees!” But
Rodney and Charlie persuaded him to stay, and Monday night he came looking for them to sign up for next year. He could
not believe all the people who came to the fair. Another thing Charlie did for the fair was help the pyrotechnics guy set up
fi reworks. The display was built in the old freight yard (now the mechanical pulling area). They dug pits to support the forms
and after loading the devices, the forms were covered with wet burlap bags to keep things cool and prevent sparks from
igniting more than one device at a time. When the show began, the pyro guy set off each unit with a road fl are, and Charlie
yanked the burlap off the next device when it was time for that to be lit. In later years, Charlie enjoyed driving his 1946
Minneapolis Moline tractor in the parade. He looked forward to the fair. He liked to sit and talk and listen to music. He was
very proud of Harmony.