148th Northern Maine Fair commences Friday

PRESQUE ISLE – The smell of hot dogs and sausages sizzling on the griddle. The sounds of children laughing on the midway and horse-racing fans yelling. The efforts of mud-boggers and beef-raising youngsters. These all will be part of the 148th annual Northern Maine Fair, starting Friday at Presque Isle.

“We have new acts and old favorites on the grandstand every night,” Chairman Eddie Hews said Monday. “We have new things like the sorting of cattle by people on horseback, and we will have a herd of Scottish Highlander cattle, of which there are few in Maine and across the country.”

The nine-day fair has something for everyone, according to organizers of Aroostook County’s oldest fair.

The fair will celebrate the centennial of 4-H, whose former members will be asked to sign a Centennial Guest Book at the fair. Celebratory cake and ice cream and the setting up of a time capsule will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 30.

The Lawrence Carr shows will be on the midway from July 26 to Aug. 3. The midway opens at noon on weekends and 4 p.m. weekdays.

Hews said the seven-member Fox Brothers of Nashville will be making their only Maine appearance, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 30.

Erica Brown, a fiddler from Kittery, will perform on the grandstand before McHale and The Old Time Radio Gang at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 31.

For horse-racing fans, there will be six nights of action in front of the grandstand. Harness racing begins Friday night, July 26, and races run Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, and Monday, Thursday and Friday nights.

The track will see the running of the first of five runs of the Dirigo Race. The purse for this first race is $4,000. Four other races will be run during the fair season in Maine.

The overall winner of the Dirigo Race will collect $25,000 after the final race at Scarborough. The 2- and 3-year-olds in the race must commit to run all five races.

Opening night will feature the ranch sorting-team competition, which resembles ranch work from Western cattle country.

In the exhibition hall 30 of Aroostook County’s better exhibitors will be shown. The Agricultural Hall also will feature the 4-H and Future Farmers of America’s work with plants and animals.

For the rugged young crowd there will be a demolition derby, and truck and tractor pulls.

On Saturday, Aug. 3, the fair will feature Lumber Jack Roundup in the George Allen Horse Arena starting at 10 a.m.

Each day from Tuesday, July 30, to Friday, Aug. 2, Aroostook County historical societies will have their antiques on display in the Historical Pavilion.

The historical exhibition also will have fiddlers and storytellers.

The annual baby beef auction and showing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 1.

There are petting zoos for the children, visiting animal houses, music, food, a dog show, animal demonstrations, horse pulling, baby beef and beef judging, a marionette theater and fireworks.