Ferris wheel rides and fried dough, pig scrambles and ox pulling, live entertainment and helicopter rides are reasons enough to head to the Fryeburg Fair.

But for Fred Bubier of Greene, there’s another reason.

“It’s the only vacation I have,” Bubier said, as he sipped hot coffee from his perch on the back of a flatbed trailer Sunday morning.

“I come in on Thursday, and I go home on the second Monday,” he said.

And while the fair may be the first opportunity city folks and kids get to see live animals up close, it’s familiar territory for Bubier, who has been coming to the fair for the last 15 or 20 years.

When he’s not on vacation, he handles livestock.

“My cousin owns a slaughterhouse,” he said. “People drop off their animals at my farm, and every Tuesday I drive them to Boston.”

Although clouds kept the sun hidden for most of the day, Bubier said, “It’s just a beautiful day. Some years I’ve seen snow up here. People still come; they don’t care. It’s the last fair of the year.”

Seeing the animals up close and talking to their owners brings Paul Howard to the fair nearly every year from his home in Middleton, Mass. That, and the “men’s toys” (tractors, motorcycles, tools, snowmobiles, ATVs) and, of course, the food.

“Anytime I get within 100 yards of sausage and peppers and onions, I have to have one — even if I just finished breakfast,” he said.

Nancy Bechard of Bridgton is spending the entire week in a camper with her friend Nancy Ensign of Mount Vernon, N.H.

The fact that she’s in a motorized wheel chair hasn’t slowed her down.

“Everyone is so friendly, so accommodating,” Bechard said. “You learn so much here. When you go watch how they do the spinning or weaving, it doesn’t matter how busy they are. They’ll stop and explain it to you. I think I could come here for the next 10 years and not see it all.”

Steve and Joy Yates of Lewiston stood outside an exhibit building, watching their children, Evan, 5, and Kylie, 3, play with toy trucks in a sawdust pile.

“We came because my dad is one of the judges at the firemen’s muster,” Steve Yates said. His father is Dennis Yates, the fire chief in Norway.

The couple said they enjoyed checking out the rows and rows of campers and watching the border collie trials. The kids’ favorite, so far, was the baby pigs.

This was the first year a family from Gorham, Jenn and Matthew Finck, decided to come with their two boys, Mason, 4, and Hunter, 1.

Asked if they had any trouble finding the fair, they replied, “No, we just followed the traffic.” The couple said they were impressed with how little it cost and how clean the bathrooms are. They said they came prepared with a double stroller, packed with extra clothes and extra diapers.

Their 1-year-old “was a little hesitant” about seeing the live animals, Jenn Finck said.

“One of the cows mooed at him.”

Scott Booth came from Melrose, Mass., because his great uncle, Ray Pesola, of Bridgton, told him to. “He told us we had to come. He said it’s the thing to do.”

“We just came from the pig scramble, and we had a blast,” he said. Booth brought his 6-year-old nephew, Owen McEachern, whose take on the event was, “Most of the kids picked them up by the hind legs. The girls did better than the boys.”

A third information booth has been added this year to help people navigate the rows and rows of buildings, booths, and exhibit areas.

Standing outside the booth, Duddie Andrews had no shortage of customers. The two most-often-asked questions are, “Where’s the nearest restroom?” and “Where’s the nearest ATM machine?”

At that point, she opens up a map of the fairgrounds, gets out her pink highlighter, marks the location of her booth, and says “You’re right here.” Then she circles the place they want to go.

“It’s amazing the number of people who don’t know where they’re going,” she said with a laugh.