FRYEBURG – For 51 years, Dwain Chase has been a regular at the Fryeburg Fair. He shows. He competes. He helps his daughter with her animals.

But what Chase really loves is talking.

He spends the entire fair week stationed just outside the steer and ox barns, chatting with fellow farmers, answering questions from city folks, letting little kids know it’s OK to pet the giant ox.

For years, the charming, jovial Wilton man kept up the meet-and-greet on his own.

“I always stuck it out because everyone wanted to know things,” Chase said.

Now it’s an official job. He’s the ox-and-steer information guy.

“We stay out of the professional part. Blue ribbons don’t mean anything,” Chase said while his 12-year-old daughter, Tammy, showed off her Holstein ox, Andy, to a little boy and his mother. “We’re here to have fun.”

From pigs to llamas, more than a dozen kinds of animals show at the Fryeburg Fair each year. Every barn has someone to talk with visitors and answer questions. Some educators, like Chase, are official. Others are volunteers.

All are passionate about their animals.

“I always have a goat loose,” said volunteer Vicky Drew of Denmark, as her Nubian goat, Mona Lisa, wandered around their busy information table. “I take turns with them so people can interact on a personal basis with a goat, so they can see how really sweet and wonderful they are, and how they’re very affectionate and really like attention.”

As in the steer-and-ox barn, children like to pet the goats, reaching out to shyly brush a hand over the animals’ coat. Adults ask about the goats’ ears (some are short, some are floppy), their milk (makes great fudge) and the rumor that they eat tin cans (not true).

Drew has gone to the Fryeburg Fair every year since 1984, when it began showcasing dairy goats. She spends more than a week at the fairgrounds, but rarely checks out the rides, games or food.

She would rather be at the information table in the barn.

“I’m just here to play with goats,” she said.

Sally Barney and Marian Kelsey, both of Lee, N.H., do take breaks for pizza, French fries and blueberry crisp. But as sheep superintendents, they spend much of their time in the barn, talking with visitors.

“They always ask a million wool questions,” Barney said.

Although Barney and Kelsey believe there are no silly questions, they admit that some people aren’t exactly sheep savvy. More than a few have confused sheep with goats. Some have referred to wool as “hair.” And others just don’t know what to make of the animals.

“The general fair public is sometimes not informed as to the anatomical structure of a sheep and will find some of their pieces and parts quite amusing,” Barney said.

Still, it’s the ability to talk with the barn’s visitors, to educate kids and meet up with old friends that’s kept them coming back for more than 15 years.

“I think the people are the best part,” Barney said.

Back at the steer-and-ox barn, Chase feels the same way.

“The animals are part of our heritage. Talking about them, that’s what makes my day,” he said. “That’s part of the fair.”

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