Weather helps 112th Blue Hill Fair end on a high note

BLUE HILL – While vacationers Monday were streaming out of Hancock County at the end of the Labor Day weekend, vehicles were lining up for parking spaces for the final day of the 112th Blue Hill Fair.

Fine weather and traditional attractions kept the midway and livestock areas teeming with fair-goers through the first four days of the fair, and Monday promised to be another full day, according to Robbie Eaton, president of the Hancock County Agricultural Association.

“The weather’s been favorable, and that was part of the plan,” Eaton said with a smile. “We’ve had very good crowds.”

By early Monday afternoon, the midway was beginning to fill and the line of traffic had increased from a steady trickle to a regular line stretching back from the parking lots toward the main road.

The combination of a wrist-band special for the rides and the promise of big-name entertainment – country singer Patty Loveless – brought young and old to the final day of the fair.

“That combination has been a big boost for the fair on Monday,” Eaton said. “The kids ride the rides all afternoon, and the parents stay for the show.”

In between, they wander the fairgrounds, drawn to their own favorites – the doughboy booth, the Scrambler, the horse-pulling contest, the craft and flower displays, the 4-H projects or the strawberry shortcake booth under the grandstand.

“It’s tradition,” said one man who’s been attending fairs for most of his 74 years. “I come for old time’s sake.”

One part of the tradition has been the livestock area where the stalls this year were filled with 70 head of dairy cows, 80 beef critters, 50 sheep and 150 goats, and a variety of other farm animals, ranging from rabbits to llamas.

“Over the years, we’ve tried to expand and promote educational displays in order to educate people about what’s happening with agriculture and what it’s all about,” Livestock Superintendent Mylon Staples said.

People seem to appreciate that effort, Staples said, and they spend time in the livestock area, visiting some of the exhibits or just wandering through the stalls looking at the animals, including the little calf born just a few hours earlier while a crowd and a film crew looked on.

“There’s no one thing that’s outstanding; to me, they’re all outstanding,” Staples said. “It’s everything in general.”

Despite the good attendance throughout the run of the fair, Eaton was not predicting any new attendance records for this year’s fair.

Barring bad weather, the fair generally draws about 30,000 people, and Eaton said attendance likely would be around that average. Actually, attendance figures won’t be available until after the fair closes Monday night.

“I don’t see how we’re going to peak in any great numbers,” Eaton said as he watched the annual livestock parade pass by.

“There’s just so many people to draw from,” Eaton said.

That said, he admits that he’s already planning for next year’s fair, looking to make it just a little bit better.

“We’re not trying to make any big, startling changes,” he said. “We’re always looking for something out of the ordinary. As long as people keep smiling; that’s the big thing.”