OXFORD – Ellen Gibson and others want to get the message across that farming is alive and well in Maine today.

“We’re looking at something that is happening today. It’s not dead,” said Gibson, coordinator for the Farm Life Center project, an exhibition that will celebrate Oxford County farmers at the annual Oxford County Fair next month.

The Farm Life Center is one of a number of exhibitions and events that will be ongoing throughout the 162nd annual Oxford County Fair, Sept. 12-15 at the fair grounds and race track off Pottle Street in Oxford.

The fair will include demonstrations, cattle and draft horse pulls, live bull riding, a pie contest, goat and horse shows, a pig scramble, antique tractor pulls and much more.

The Farm Life Center project is being funded through a $3,800 Maine Community Foundation grant to the Oxford County Ag Group to celebrate farmers.

“It will encompass the types of things going on in small farms today,” said Gibson of exhibits in the center. They include Barbara Murphy’s cut flowers, Jan Kubiac demonstrating small bale construction, a timber-framing demonstration by Ed Somers, a seed-saving project by Scott Vlaun, John Pino demonstrating growing greens year round in unheated greenhouses, along with a number of other demonstrations and exhibits.

“We’re looking at it (agriculture) right now and really developing it as a viable economic strategy for county agriculture,” she explained.

One of the unique opportunities the center will provide during the fair is an oral history project in which people will be able to record, both on audio and video tapes, their memories of Maine farm life, both past and present, plus stories about the future of farming.

People were recently trained in interviewing techniques by folklorist, oral historian and educator Jo Radner, who taught for 30 years at the American University in Washington, D.C. After retiring, she returned to Lovell and now offers workshops on collecting and performing oral histories for schools, historical societies and other community groups, Gibson said.

Gibson, a West Paris resident who is involved in renovating and preserving a barn, said the exhibit will focus on the interest being shown to expand the local foods network and supporting local producers and strengthening the economic base of agriculture in the United States.

“It’s hard to make a living as a farmer,” Gibson said. “We think it’s really important for more local produce to be available. Food security, health freshness, knowing your farmer, all of that is really important.”

Gibson said the idea for the Farm Life Center came out of a meeting of the Oxford County Ag Group last winter when scores of people showed up and expressed interest in developing an exhibit for the county fair.

The Oxford County Ag Group is continuing the work begun by the Local Foods Group. That group was started by farmers who wanted to raise awareness of what was being produced locally and to build markets with local stores, schools and other institutions, according to Gibson. Collaborative members include Cooperative Extension, Healthy Oxford Hills, Threshold to Maine, the Women, Work and Community group, Western Mountains Alliance and local farmers.