FRYEBURG – A little morning mist and a threatening sky could not keep a crowd of people from the opening day of the 153rd Fryeburg Fair.

“It never rains in Fryeburg,” said Roy Andrews, who was able to maintain a straight face while keeping one eye on the darkening late afternoon clouds.

Conditions did not seem to bother fairgoers much.

“It’s the food!” said Mike Drummond from Boothbay, who has been coming to the fair for the past 20 years. “Sausage, fries and yeah, I also like the crafts.

“The weather doesn’t matter much; I just really like the fair,” he said. “I’ve been here when the snow was flying and when it was 95 (degrees).”

The midway was abuzz with the sounds of youngsters’ voices escalating with the excitement of the ride they were on and people tried their luck winning stuffed animals and other prizes.

Acoustic group “Bait the Hook,” played for three hours at the stage in the park across from the main office and the Blue Hills Brass Quintet performed as they strolled the grounds. The Hillsmen Chorus provided late afternoon barbershop style music.

While the midway was busy and boisterous in its own way, the noise abated with a walk across the fairgrounds to the Agricultural Exposition Center, Forestry Resource Center and the livestock area.

A steady stream of people toured both centers asking questions of exhibitors in the Forestry Center and seeing if friends or relatives won ribbons in the Agricultural Center.

The fair did not have official attendance figures – it won’t until Monday morning – but an office spokesman said the paid attendance was about 20,000.

Eva Ward, a worker in the fair secretary’s office and trustee of the West Oxford Trustee Society, said the figures did not include children, who do not have to pay and lifelong members of the society. She said attendance is usually about double the paid attendance.

There was a flower show, a fiber show and a parent/child baking contest, and a whoopee pie making contest.

There was poultry judging, a pig scramble for children of West Oxford Agricultural Society members, horse pulling, tractor pulling, oxen pulling and a 4-H Dairy Goat Show.

“It was an outstanding pig scramble. The pigs were faster than usual, but the youngsters from the Society were extra strong and fast.”

Bethaney Parker, 13, of Holden won the Intermediate Category in the goat show. She said she has been showing goats for six years and said she has a “ton” of trophies at home from 4-H and other shows.

She won the competition with her goat Pretty Little Ditty, who is 3 years old. She said she showed the goat for the first time several weeks after he was born.

“It’s good to start early,” Parker advised. “You need to talk to other breeders. They’ll give you pointers and the more you ask, the more you learn.”

The fair continues Monday, opening at 8 a.m. and featuring the Woodsmen’s Field Day at 9 a.m.

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

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