Piscataquis Valley Fair successful Attendance up at event despite challenges

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Even in the face of adversity, the Piscataquis Valley Fair Association persevered over the weekend.

Disaster struck in April when two young men deliberately set fire to one of the barns on the fairgrounds and attempted to burn vehicles and other buildings, causing $100,000 in damage.

But organizers worked hard and replaced the barn in time for this year’s fair.

For the third straight year the fair also was up against the National Folk Festival in Bangor. On top of that, schools opened locally the first day of the fair.

Despite it all, this year’s attendance was better than last year, according to Deanne Merrill, fair secretary. “It has been very good,” she said Sunday.

In fact, the fair has done well every year that the Folk Festival has operated. “Competition is good,” she noted.

Crowds of people were on hand Sunday wandering the midway and mingling with the many volunteers who worked to stage the successful fair.

The volunteers, obvious in their fluorescent green T-shirts, were busily conducting a wide range of duties including organizing the pig scramble, assembling participants for the demolition derby, making sure garbage was picked up and passing out bandages for callused feet.

The unpaid volunteers do it all so the public can have a good time, according to Merrill.

Among those enjoying the fair Sunday was Brian Perkins, 5, of Brownville. The young boy could not tear himself away from 4-H Animal Land.

Asked what he liked best about the fair, he thumped his fingers on an enclosed glass cage containing baby chicks and said, “One of these guys.” Perkins, the son of Glen and Linda Perkins, said he had been on nearly all the rides.

The fair also was a time for three Milo sisters to spend quality time together. Kimberly, 17, Rebecca, 12, and Nichelle Carpenter, 13, said they do little together at home and make the trip to the fair each year to spend the time together.