FARMINGTON – Visitors to the fairgrounds were few Friday morning as the sun shone and a breeze kept the weather brisk, a reminder that autumn and the close of the fair were just a day away.

A bit later, the weather was warmer and visitors picked up.

As did the chores of the animal owners and those running the booths.

Darlyne Antos helped her grandchildren prepare a pen for their Alpine dairy goats, Coretta, Jetta and Elsa, and then went out to the back of the truck and opened the door to put collars on the animals.

Antos, of Livermore Falls, put a collar around one goat and held off the other two as they pushed to escape. She passed off Coretta to grandson Jacob Lamarre, 7, also of Livermore Falls, while she put a collar on Elsa, a “cou blanc” color or whitish, like the rest.

Then Jacob had Elsa, too, as he struggled to get a firm grip on the two rambunctious animals as grandma put a collar on Jetta.

Whew. Just watching them made you tired as they finally led the goats to their pen in the barn.

Two-year-old granddaughter Jordyn Mitchell, Jacob’s sister, was helping to clean the barn as the goats made their way to the pen.

The youngsters make the third generation of dairy goat breeders in the family, Antos said.

As Jacob watched the goats in the pen from outside the gate with the intent of not letting them eat anything bad or escape, his grandmother went out to get his tack.

The three goats checked out everything and yes, tried to eat things they weren’t supposed to.

Jacob pushed one goat’s head in through the wire fence and another goat’s head popped out. Coretta was chewing on Duct tape that was put over the end of the fence wires. Jordyn kissed her goat, Jetta, as the goat scurried backwards.

Antos was back and secured the bottom of the wire gate on the pen.

That should hold, she said.

Her grandchildren would show their goats during the 4-H show Friday afternoon and the open show Saturday.

“This is teaching them so much responsibility,” Antos said.

“It is a lot of work,” Jacob said. “But I like showing them and going to the fair.”

Over at the animal scale, Duke Smith of Farmington was reading off the weight of the Belgian horses, his friend, Herbert Mosher of Temple would enter into pulling contests.

Spike weighed 1,500 pounds and Pete weighed 1,530.

“I’m lucky to have a friend who owns draft horses,” Smith said. “I love animals. I’m just lucky enough to help him out.”

At the Franklin County Beef Booster booth, Rhonda Clark of Wilton washed potatoes for french fries. The profits from the booth help those in the 4-H clubs get experience and education about the animals they’re raising.

The booth is doing well this year, she said, and is busier than last year.

But not all booths are doing as well as in the past as rumors of gang activity at the fair circulated and is believed to have hurt attendance. Farmington Police Chief Richard Caton III tried to quell the rumors early in the week but some parents kept children home.

“Since the rumor – it has hurt our attendance,” John Stansfield, treasurer of the Franklin Agricultural Society said Friday. “Hopefully today and tomorrow will help a little bit. Many of the parents have concerns. We were good enough the first part of the week, so we’re probably down 10 percent. We had a good Sunday. It hasn’t been the weather that’s hurting us – it’s other factors.”