FRYEBURG – The tipoff that the 157th annual Fryeburg Fair was off to a great start Sunday was the controlled mayhem on the streets.

From the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the east- and westbound sides of Route 302 to the Main Street homeowners offering their front lawns and bathroom facilities for $5 and the hundreds of pedestrians who made their way to the fairground from parking spaces one and even two miles away, the state’s largest agricultural fair was off and running.

“It’s grown tremendously,” said Bill Wood of Terryville, Conn., who has been coming to the Fryeburg Fair for the past 50 years. Seated in a webbed lawn chair, wearing dark glasses and a hearing aid, the 84-year-old watched some of the thousands of fair goers pass him by as they peered into the barns filled with beef cattle, steers and oxen.

Wood’s perception of the changes at the fair come from years of watching the Blue Ribbon Classic expand. The fair dates to 1851, when a few local farmers and merchants decided to show off their animals and wares to the community for one day. It’s evolved into eight days of exhibitions, horse pulling, pig scrambles, harness racing, an extraordinary amount of food vendors, games and a midway filled with rides intended to take a toll on those who eat all the greasy foods.

“There never were any llama,” Wood said when asked about the fair changes. Llama, he said, are not considered farm animals in this part of the country, but have come to be a part of the Fryeburg Fair tradition.

“It’s more of a show now,” said Wood, who still had obvious enthusiasm for the fair.

The early morning fog that hit some travelers on their way to Fryebrug lifted by mid-morning, leaving a breathtaking fall day with bright blue skies and pleasant temperatures in the low 70s. The sunny sky greeted some people from all over the country and beyond as they made their way to the fairgrounds, nestled in the beautiful Saco River Valley at the foothills of the White Mountains.

Many of the more than 300,000 annual visitors come to camp for the week on one of 3,000 campsites.

They included Lewis Prescott, 75, of New Sharon. He’s been coming to the fair for the past 25 years and has watched the changes. “That’s why we like it,” he said of the new attractions and buildings that are added each year.

Gates open at 7 each morning with the buildings open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Ongoing demonstrations, exhibits, shows and competitions are held throughout the day. A night show featuring some of the biggest musical headliners today takes the stage at 8 each night beginning today. More than 200 musicians have also been employed to perform throughout fair week.

To the newcomer, the Fryeburg Fair is a jolt. “You won’t believe it,” said first-time fair-goer Melissa Pinkham of Yarmouth, who, with her friend Paul Goldrup of Freeport, were riding in circles with the Fryeburg Express – a tractor-pulled wagon that provides transportation to motorists who often have no idea where their car is parked in the vast wilderness of vehicles, people, animals and buildings on the 185-acre fairground.

“We never saw Fryeburg before because we had heard about the traffic jams,” said Morice Dennery of Hale’s Location in North Conway, N.H., who attended Saturday’s opening with his 9-year-old daughter Erika and 6-year-old son Jaden.

Police said Sunday night that traffic had backed up a mile into New Hampshire on Route 302 from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday before it began to flow smoothly again. Motorists should expect delays throughout the week.

Today’s events begin with a dairy goat show and the Woodman’s Field Day contests and continue with ox-pulling, a market lamb contest and horse pulling; ending with the night show, featuring Haven Quint.