FARMINGTON — The 175th annual Franklin County Agricultural Fair opened on Sunday, welcoming hundreds of visitors through the gates on a sunny morning.

The fair celebrates both newer and older styles of work and entertainment, including baking contests, horse and truck pulls, a dog agility competition and the traditional Miss Farmington Fair pageant.

Many exhibitors offered visitors the chance to learn more about traditional skills that kept early settlers in Maine supplied with items that were essential to daily life. Blacksmiths once were essential; they made horseshoes, fashioned farm equipment, built hinges and pulleys, and even nails. As other materials became cheaper and more readily available, the blacksmith trade became less important. Horses were used less for transportation, so farriers were less in demand.

According to Western Maine Blacksmith Association member Steve Townley, hobbyists have been gathering regularly to share their knowledge at the fairgrounds in the summer and at the Wilton Historical Society’s forge room during winter months.

“I think more young people find the computer more interesting than learning how to make something with their hands,” Townley said at the group’s forge and tool exhibit on Sunday.

The association organized in 2002, with the goal of preserving, advancing, enriching and encouraging the art of blacksmithing and metal working. Most of the members are older, he said, but newcomers are offered the chance to create something useful from a piece of unformed metal. On Sunday afternoon, he showed Colby Gilchrist of Avon the right way to heat a piece of iron until it turned a deep red. Gilchrist then hammered the metal tip into a point.

A bystander asked Gilchrist what he planned to make.

“I’m not sure yet, but I am having a good time doing it,” Gilchrist said.

Next to the blacksmiths, Carol Cottrill, master beekeeper and secretary for the Western Maine Beekeepers Association, showed visitors the variety of bees and honey available in the state. Beekeeping is a productive and fascinating skill, she said. Honey bees are different from other bees, with bodies specially designed to stay warm in the hive all through the winter.

“They form a big ball in the winter, and they actually shiver, which keeps the ones in the center warm,” she said. “The ones in the center then move out, and the ones on the outside move into the center of the ball.”

Bees also must have enough honey to survive the winter, so a skillful beekeeper must make sure the insects have a supply until the first blooms arrive in the spring. The hive must have a good queen and a large number of healthy bees.

The Western Maine Beekeepers Association offers basic instruction each year for those who decide they are interested in beekeeping.

“We have a Bee School in Mexico, but there are other groups in Maine who have similar training for new beekeepers,” Cottrill said.

She suggested visiting www.mainebeekeepers.org for information about equipment, education or area contacts who could provide more information. Taking the course and apprenticing or working with an experienced beekeeper before buying a starter hive, or nuc, increases any beginner’s chances of success. Planning for hives, she said, requires an understanding of year-round responsibilities, and this week’s exhibit provides a chance to meet with experts and ask questions.