Fairs bring us back to our roots

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    With the other half of the reporting team — Stu Hedstrom — on vacation last week, I spent more time than usual in Dover-Foxcroft.
    One of the more pleasant assignments was the Piscataquis County Fair.

    I know, I know — I’m showing my age again.
    Who goes to fairs nowadays? Senior citizens and families with grade-school kids, right?
    Well, not always. There’s something refreshing about agriculture fairs, especially when you spend most of your working hours mentally chained to a computer, tablet or smartphone. I’m starting to see as many 30-something folks at the fairgrounds as old-timers.
    I like the agricultural displays because I hope to pick up tips on how to grow tomatoes bigger than one inch in diameter or cukes longer than three inches. I have lousy soil at my home, but I also lack any serious gardening expertise. Everything I plant in the ground is considered an experiment.
    Tractor and truck-pulling is a lot of fun to watch, although it’s pretty noisy. Earplugs are a good investment if you’re planning to spend a lot of time at the arena.
    The kid’s pedal tractor pull was a good addition to the show. The classes were based on the youngster’s weight, not their age. It also takes a combination of skill and luck to win.
    I also learned a long time ago not to wear good shoes to a fair. With hundreds of animals wandering through the grounds, you never can tell where they’ve left a deposit.
    The farm oxen twitch, scoot and pull competition is fun to watch. I never want to be caught between an ox and a hard place.
    For some unexplainable reason, fairs are also a venue where you run into relatives you haven’t seen in ages. Maybe it’s the only social event they attend all year. Or maybe they’re trying to avoid you.
    The Piscataquis Valley Fair has always been one of my favorites because it’s small enough to see everything within a reasonable amount of time, but still has enough exhibits to keep your interest. Plus, the $6 gate admission is a lot less than many other fairs.
    My personal favorite, however, is the Windsor Fair which usually draws the second-largest crowd on the circuit next to the Fryeburg Fair. The Windsor grounds are neat as a pin and include a turn-of-the-century museum and mini-village. The horse racing is also a big drawing card, although I notice that the grandstands aren’t nearly as full as they were 10 or 15 years ago.
    The most unusual fair I’ve been to is Blue Hill. While it’s in the small-to-medium category, I swear there are more food exhibits per square foot than any other fair. You can gain five pounds by just walking through the midway.
    Anyhow, I hope everyone who attended this year’s fair enjoyed it. Weather wasn’t an issue, for a change, so chances are the bottom line will be rosy this year.
    I also hope you watched where you walked.
Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.