FARMINGTON – The 177th Farmington Fair begins tomorrow, offering its usual eclectic mix of agriculture, games and rides, history, food and commerce from Sunday, Sept. 17 through Saturday, Sept. 23. A complete schedule is available here.
Sunday offers Maine Barrel Racing at 10 a.m., as well as the 4-H Working Steer Pull and Steer Show. 4-H will also be hosting the annual Bird and Dog Shows that afternoon. The Miss Farmington Fair Pageant begins at 6:30 p.m., with age groups ranging from 7 to 18 years competing for the titles of Miss Farmington Fair (15-18), Junior Miss Farmington Fair (11-14), Little Miss Farmington Fair (7-10) and Miss Hospitality, (for the young lady who is most active in participation in the fair itself).
Monday is Agriculture Education Day, with approximately 1,000 local-area school students spending the morning learning about everything from beekeeping to apple cider, as well as touring the animal barns and viewing demonstrations from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Game Warden Service. Drag Your Neighbor will be held at 6:30 p.m., offering a chance for participants to show off their drag racing skills.
Tuesday and Thursday offer special discounts for senior citizens: attendees ages 62 and up are admitted for $4. Tuesday also has $2 rides, with a host of steer and ox pulls. 4-H will be putting on a nuder of shows all afternoon, including the Swine, Baby Beef, Heifer and Sheep show. The Firemen’s Muster will be held that night at 6:30 p.m., followed by two hours of wrestling by the North Atlantic Wrestling Association.
Wednesday offers more specials on rides, plus horse pulls and the Youth Market Lamb, Steer, Hog & Poultry Shows and Sales. Thursday has the Sheep Show, beef and dairy demonstrations, as well as the truck and tractor pulls. The 4-H Dairy Goat Show and more truck pulls are Friday, while Saturday brings the Heart of Maine Dairy Goat Show and the Demolition Derby, which is always a crowd favorite.
As always, the fair will be offering daily Pari-Mutuel Racing, including three days of stakes racing and one race Saturday that will carry a $7,500 purse, sponsored by Hartt Transportation of Hampden. There will be roaming musicians and games and rides on the midway. The Harrison Starbird Building is filled with exhibits and fair organizers are expecting a full lot in the commerce section. The Western Maine Beekeepers and Western Maine Blacksmiths will be at the fair, and there will be daily demonstrations at the sap house.
This year’s featured historical society in the post office building will be the Wilhelm Reich Museum.
Parking inside the fair will be free this year. Tickets are $8 for ages 12 and up, $4 for children age’s eight to 11 and free for children ages seven and younger. The family pass is $70, while a one-week pass is $50 for an adult and $20 for children ages eight and 12.
Wow , at $8 I won’t be attending this year. And I get to pay for parking where the lot attendants put the handicapped as far from the fair as humanly possible
I think that the article said that parking is free this year.
Cheapest fair in the state and free parking. Good deal for franklin county
If you want to post and show just how cheap you are, you might want to read the whole article first. :-)
Look forward to the fair every year. Can’t wait!
Maybe they looked at the flyer only. It should’ve been put in the flyer as well by the prices to get in.
How can someone be so sour about a beautiful fair?
Whining will get you no sympathy. I’m sorry if you can’t afford to go, truly I am. But the fair is not a “surprise event”, nor is it required attendance. We all make choices. I choose to not buy cigarettes that would kill me, save some money all year and take my kids.