$1 entry, weather boost last day at fair Hot week trimmed Bangor attendance

BANGOR – Temperatures and prices at the Bangor State Fair dipped on Sunday, luring thousands of eager fair-goers to snatch one last fistful of cotton candy, a final swig of fresh-squeezed lemonade, and a goodbye Italian sausage smothered with peppers and onions.

Sunburns surfaced almost as quickly as heartburn on Sunday, but for the first time in several days a slight breeze brought relief to both workers and patrons.

“It was a hot week,” said Craig Clifford, 45, of Haynesville in southern Aroostook County. “It would have kept me away.”

Clifford, who spent every day last week selling raffle tickets at the Anah Temple Shrine tent, said many fair vendors had noted that business was down this year compared to last. The fair was deserted during the day, he said, but after 5 p.m., when the sun started to go down, crowds began to stroll through the gates.

Officials estimated Sunday that attendance at the fair was down 5 percent from last year, and close to 8 percent when compared with a five-year average of 63,000 visitors. Daytime admissions, between noon and 5 p.m., were down nearly 12 percent, while admittance from 6 p.m. to closing time was up by about 5 percent, said Mike Dyer, director of Bass Park.

“I think this is a direct result of it being so hot for so many days,” Dyer said Sunday. “Today is an ideal day. It’s not too hot, not too cold, and it’s dry, not muggy.”

Dyer said that final gate numbers and revenues would not be available Sunday night, since officials still had to factor in group sales and presale passes.

Many area residents lined up Sunday to take advantage of reduced gate prices on the last day of the fair. “Dollar day” attracted Kelli Michaud, 28, of Clifton, who brought her nieces and nephews to the fair for the first time this year.

“By the time you pay for parking, buy tickets for the rides, then food and drinks, it gets expensive,” said Michaud. “That’s why we came when it was only a dollar.”

Cyndy Loftin, 44, of Brewer said she brought her sons to the fair on dollar day because it is the only economical way to enjoy the annual trip. Her son Steven, 11, capitalized on mom’s savings and slurped down his favorite fair treat, a strawberry banana smoothie.

While the nearly 80-degree heat did not deter people from visiting Bass Park on Sunday, it did send many people in search of ice cream stands and flavored-ice tents.

“There is one less ice cream stand here this year, so that helps,” said Chris of Chris’s Ice Cream, who declined to give her last name.

In addition to extreme heat, the fair also lost potential revenue Friday night, when thunderstorms ripped through the state. Dyer said people stopped coming through the gate after 6 p.m. and the lightning put a damper on the night’s demolition derby.

“It could have been a halfway decent night,” Chris said. “All the people were coming in, but then it started raining.”