Arguably the best of the many agricultural fairs held throughout Maine, the Fryeburg Fair runs for a week. It's usually the first week in October, but it occasionally begins the last week of September. While at many fairs the livestock are set apart, at Fryeburg everything is intermingled. You can walk through the cow barns or watch children scamper after piglets in a pig scramble, then take a few steps and be in the middle of a carnival-type midway with games, cotton candy and bloomin' onions. Walk around a little bit more, and you'll find yourself watching a harness race or meandering through the agricultural museum.
Events take place throughout the day, with ox pulls and livestock judging.
Oxen, sheep, cows, pigs, goats, horses and other livestock, from prize-winning adults to young animals at their first show, are judged in a variety of categories. If you're interested, you can watch the owners bathing and primping the animals in the barns before judging. Children are often fascinated by this part of the fair and enjoy the lectures about Early American education held at the one-room schoolhouse adjacent to the museum. To get to the fair, take Maine Highway 302 west from Portland or use Exit 8 off the Maine Turnpike. Fryeburg is about 90 minutes away.