Fair call! Crowds turn to Bangor for annual dose of fun and fried food

BANGOR – The Bangor State Fair was in full swing on Saturday, and so was Lana McAllister, a ranking officer in a veterans auxiliary who became a kid again amid the sights, sounds and smells of the fair.

McAllister, a senior vice president of the Maine VFW Ladies Auxiliary, has been coming to the fair for the 10 years she has lived in Eddington, and her interest hasn’t waned.

On Saturday night, she and a handful of fellow VFW and auxiliary members shook off the formalities of the statewide VFW program they were attending over the weekend in Bangor and set out to have a good time.

Arriving about 8:30 p.m., the group was eager to make up for what they said was a late arrival.

First stop, food – fair food, the calorie-laden, break-our-diet delectables, from big greasy sausages to the sticky-sweet taste of cotton candy.

And then there’s the fried dough – don’t forget the fried dough. It’s the quintessential element of a fair, Linda Brackett, junior vice president of the auxiliary and a resident of Wilton, said.

“That’s the reason fairs exist, so we can eat fried dough,” said Brackett, who at the time was proudly wearing a bright purple, fur-lined, felt pirate’s hat that McAllister had won for her after they had dined on fried dough.

Whether it was for the food, rides, games, shows and demonstrations, or a combination of those, there was a strong turnout on Friday and Saturday, the first two days of the fair.

Bass Park Director Mike Dyer said 12,600 people made their way to the fair during those two days, or 2,500 more people than showed up for the same two days last year.

The news is even better considering that last year was the best of the three past years in terms of attendance.

McAllister went on to win a bright white and yellow plush fish before she and the others headed off to look for more challenges, both the edible kind and those that required a little luck.

She cut short an interview, stating, “That’s all the time you’ve got, I want to go play.”

Although McAllister was impressed with the fair and said it had improved over the years, providing new experiences along with old favorites in a safer environment, others didn’t agree.

John Rogerson of Old Town had his nearly 3-year-old son, John, perched on his shoulders Saturday evening as they watched the pendulum-shaped Skymaster ride pitch people high into the air, gathering momentum to swing them all the way around.

Rogerson and his family – his wife and daughter were elsewhere at the fair – had been there for four hours, enough time for Rogerson to make the assessment that the fair wasn’t what it used to be.

The 35-year-old said that he has been going to the fair ever since he was little and he has noticed there have been fewer rides and a lack of big-ticket celebrities and musicians than it once had.

“The fair over the years has gone downhill,” Rogerson said, noting that other fairs have picked up the slack.

Where Bangor has faltered, he said others such as the one in Blue Hill seem to be drawing better attractions and more well-known celebrities and performers.

Park Director Dyer said Sunday that they’ve tried the celebrity route in past years, but that it doesn’t always pan out, and he said it was decided that it wasn’t worth the risk.

“It’s not that we can’t [attract the top performers], it’s just a conscious program decision on our part,” Dyer said.

High-profile performers can come with high price tags of $35,000 or more plus added costs, a lot of money where high attendance isn’t guaranteed and bad weather can easily scuttle the best concert attractions.

Country music singer Brad Paisley sold out two years ago – earning a $15,000 profit – but Dyer also said that a $35,000 concert brought in only 1,000 people, much less than needed.

So much of the success of the fair is dependent on the weather, as evidenced Sunday afternoon when sunshine and humidity in the early afternoon made way for heavy rain and then a late return to sunshine.

But at least the fair started off with a bang.

“We’re very happy,” Dyer said while the sun was still out.