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The Franklin County Agriculture Society was founded in 1848, but it grew out of two earlier organizations: the Farmers' Club of Sunderland, founded 1833, and the Franklin Harvest Club of Greenfield. Both organizations met dual roles: they promoted innovations in agriculture and functioned as important social clubs for local elites. The Franklin Harvest Club, for example, limited membership to 22, with new members elected unanimously. The Franklin County Agricultural Society set its membership broader, though, and held its first annual fair in September 1848, continuing the tradition today. Lester L. Luey (1819-1903) had been a riverboat man on the Connecticut before settling in Greenfield and later Deerfield.