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Annual fair begins run with 'Get Acquainted Day'
BY KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 08/25/2008

WINDSOR -- Slowly, steadily the sights, sounds and scents of the Windsor Fairgrounds came to life Sunday, the first day of its 120th year.

Joining the mid-morning sounds of mooing critters and buzzing clipping shears echoing from the livestock barns were the sounds, as noontime grew closer, of carnival workers opening the awnings of shuttered games, deep fryers popping and crackling as they warmed the day's first batches of onions, potatoes and clams, and colorfully lit rides creaking as they were readied for the day's passengers to come.

By then, many farmers had already been up for several hours, readying their animals for shows and pulling events, and greeting old friends they hadn't seen since the last fair.

Meghan Orff, 20, of Jefferson carried a thin, whip-like stick but relied almost entirely on her voice to guide her 800-pound, black-and-white team of young steers, Ben and Buster, as they dragged a wooden sled, carrying a small log, through a course of orange cones set up for the scooting contest in Vanner Pulling Arena.

After their turn in the dirt -- the first for both the animals and Orff -- Ben and Buster stood by her side, still together in a pulling yoke but otherwise not tied to anything to keep them from running off.

"I've had them since they were babies," Orff said of the five-month-old steers, which could grow up to about 3,500 pounds total. "They follow me around. For their first time out, they did pretty damn good."

Tom Foster, president of the fair, said vendors, farmers and others are showing up earlier for the fair every year. By the first day of the fair Sunday, some of the vendors had already been on site for nearly a week. Other vendors came in from the Union Fair, which closed Saturday. Foster said he's heard most other Maine fairs have seen a downturn in attendance this summer. He believes that's likely due to rainy weather, not concerns over high gas prices.

"So far, so good," Foster said on a sunny Sunday morning. "The weather is the main concern. As long as the weather stays good, I think we're going to have a great fair."

Sunday was "Get Acquainted Day" at the fair, and many attendees did just that, especially in the livestock and horse stables, and in the grandstands as post time neared for harness racing, where friends exchanged greetings and betting tips.

Today is "Woodsmen's Day" at the fair, featuring 17 different lumberjack-style competitions, including ax throwing, chain sawing, log rolling, tree felling and a tea-boiling contest.

Yes, tea boiling.

"Each contestant gets a can of water and they have to build a fire underneath it, to get it to boil," Al Fuller said from behind the counter at the fair's new information booth. "They start with a piece of cedar, and they usually use their ax to make a pile of shavings. It originated as a survival skill for woodsmen, they'd have to boil pond or snow water to make tea."

Sunday events included a goat show, but that's not why David and Tracy Knowlton of Dixmont were at the fair with their nearly 2-year-old goat "Goatie," who rested on the ground at their feet as they watched the scooting contest.

"He's like one of our kids, he goes everywhere with us," David Knowlton said of Goatie, who is house-trained and sleeps inside their house.

The couple carried a soft-side cooler with them, but it didn't hold any drinks or snacks for them. Rather, it was full of hay, grain, water and crackers, all for their goat, which, Tracy said, they sometimes take for visits to schools and nursing homes.

"He's been eating all morning, he gets more than I do," David Knowlton said, looking wistfully at the dozens of food booths over on the midway.

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

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