MAPLETON, Maine — Few things say summer like a day at a country fair.
It’s a slice of Maine life tucked in between the doughboys, draft horses, canned goods and traditional farming practices.
“Agricultural fairs are the ultimate showcase for the Maine public of the people who grow and raise animals and crops on farms,” said Melissa Ricker of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “It gives the farmers a chance to take things out and let people see them.”
Which is exactly what was going on in Mapleton over the weekend at the annual Maple Meadow Farm Fest, the first of the state’s 26 fairs taking place from now through October.
“This is the ultimate chance for the farmers and producers to get some one-on-one time with the public,” Ricker said. “The farmers and growers can also get the chance to get together to talk animals and crops.”
Andrea and Matthew Gregg have been inviting the public to their Maple Meadow Farm for eight years to give people a firsthand look at traditional Maine agriculture in action.
The Greggs use Belgian draft horses for the majority of work on their 400-acre farm where they grow a variety of forage crops.
“People would stop alongside the road while we were haying with the horses to watch us,” Andrea Gregg said Saturday morning as the fair got into full swing. “We thought about it and decided we ought to do something where people can come see what we do without having to just park their cars along the road.”
The first year the Greggs set up some displays and demonstrations and asked some friends to bake a few pies.
“It just kind of evolved from there,” Andrea Gregg said. “We had about 3,000 people attend last year.”
Statewide, according to Ricker, 860,000 people visited Maine fairs from Presque Isle to Acton in 2014, with 304,500 alone attending the state’s largest fair in Fryeburg that wraps up the season in October.
“Agricultural fairs are tradition,” Ricker said. “It goes back hundreds of years to when ‘Joe’ and ‘Bob’ were talking at the local store and saying ‘My horse is faster than your horse’ and they’d hold an event to find out who was right.”
Peter Bernier, a carpenter from Frenchville, has been bringing his Spotted Belgian Draft Horse Sky to Mapleton for several years to demonstrate traditional horse-powered techniques.
“I don’t want people to forget where we come from,” Bernier said, standing next to Sky as the big horse nuzzled his shoulder. “People worked hard years back but they gauged their days by the horses.”
Farmers did not go into the fields until the horses were properly fed and watered, Bernier said, and the work day revolved around the horses’ needs.
“Every two hours a horse has to have something in its belly,” he said. “So every two hours the farmer would stop and feed the horse and have a little break.”
Bernier said he learned that from his grandfather who worked with horses in northern Maine.
“He was brought up like that with horses,” Bernier said. “He was taught to be gentle and good to the horses.”
On Saturday Bernier and Sky were demonstrating log-hauling with a horse-drawn sleigh and acting as general ambassadors for working animals.
“She’s pretty tall,” 5-year-old Hailey Campbell of Washburn said, reaching up to rub Sky’s nose. “I’d have to ask my mom if I could ride her.”
Bernier is more than happy to spend time talking to youngsters about using horses in farming.
“Our young people will never know these kinds of things if we don’t show them,” he said. “That’s really why I am here.”
For many in Maine — especially those living in the southern parts of the state — it has been several generations since anyone in their family has actively farmed, Ricker said.
“It’s incredibly important people see what farming is all about,” she said. “An agricultural fair is a chance for people to get close to the animals and farmers and see where their food actually comes from.”
Visitors to Maple Meadows had the chance to check out some of that food thanks to several vendors, including The Maine Grain Alliance whose members at the fair were having a tough time keeping up with demand for their wood-fired pizzas featuring Maine wheat dough.
“We are here trying to get the message out that we’d like to see more grain raised in Maine,” Dusty Dowse, director of the Maine Artisan Bread Fair, said as he slid pizzas in and out of the large oven. “We’d really like to see people raising the heritage grains.”
Honey from local beekeepers, fresh baked goods, barbecue ribs and doughboys — that deep fried staple of all Maine fairs — were also getting snapped up.
In addition to food, Maine fairs showcase agricultural talents like blacksmithing, weaving, soap making and farming techniques such as plowing, hay baling and tilling.
“These people are putting on these displays and demonstrations for the public,” Ricker said. “They are generally willing to talk about what they are doing if people want to know about it and be educated.”
Fairs also showcase an important component of the state’s economy, according to Walt Whitcomb, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “Maine agriculture is growing big and small, with more farmers and more farms in Maine since the last agricultural census was conducted,” he said. “The market value of Maine’s agricultural products increased 24 percent in the last five years, from $617,190,000 to $763,062,000.”
Currently in its eighth year, this is the first year the Mapleton fair is licensed as an agricultural fair by the state, joining the Clinton Lions Agricultural Fair as the two newest licensed fairs in Maine, according to Ricker.
A complete schedule of Maine’s 2015 agricultural fairs is available on the getrealmaine.com.
