FRYEBURG – Fryeburg Fair-goers have been having a hard time making calls on their cell phones this week because too many people are using the airwaves.

With only one telecommunications tower serving Fryeburg, the airwaves are being jammed by the extra phone traffic from the tens of thousands of people attending the fair.

The eight-day fair, which wraps up Sunday, draws about 300,000 people each year to this town of about 3,500 residents.

Fair officials said they hope that a temporary tower can be put up next year to handle the traffic. June Hammond, the secretary of the fair, said it seems as if everybody at the fair has a cell phone nowadays.

“You know, every one of these campers now has a cell phone,” she said, talking about vendors and others who stay on the fair site during the week. “It just creates too much of a heavy load.”

Lloyd Smith, an independent representative with Unicel wireless phone company, said the huge volume of cell phone calls is simply too much.

“It’s just like a water pipe,” he said. “You can’t put 12 cubic feet of water through 1 cubic foot of pipe.”

Smith picked up his cell phone and tried to call his wife in Augusta. After the sixth attempt, he finally got through.

“I’ve already talked to my people about next year putting an antenna on my trailer [at the fair] that will help the situation,” he said.

Randy Dodd, a vendor at the fair, said he gave up on his wireless credit card processing machine after having difficulty running transactions at fairs last year. Dodd gestured toward the aisle of the craft building where his booth is located.

“I’d just as soon throw it out there and step on it,” he said.