By Ed Pierce
If you may have missed a chance to attend the 154th Cumberland County Fair because of last weekend’s nor’easter, there’s still time to experience all the fair has to offer by the time the annual event wraps up Saturday evening at the fairgrounds in Cumberland.
 |
| Despite the rain last weekend, the 154th Cumberland County Fair continues from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Saturday, Oct. 3 and offers plenty of live entertainment, livestock exhibits, food, rides, fireworks and fun for families at the fairgrounds, 196 Blanchard Road in Cumberland. COURTESY PHOTO |
Attending the Cumberland County Fair is a tradition that stretches all the way back to Oct. 7, 1869, when a two-day event was held on the grounds of what is now Greely High School. In 1874, the Cumberland Farmer’s Club moved the fair to newly purchased grounds in West Cumberland that included a fenced-in trotting park. By 1952, the fair was officially renamed the “Cumberland County Fair” and became a popular annual event attended by thousands of Cumberland County residents each fall.
During the final two days of this year’s fair on Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3, the fair will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Scheduled events for Friday include the MSTTP Tractor Pull featuring Modified Big Rigs and Semi pulls; musical performances by singer-songwriters Ryan Halliburton and Henry Lowery, The World Famous Grassholes, and The Jack Fossett Band; magic and comedy from Joe Howard; the Nettie Loops Hula Hoop Experience; Sweepstakes Horse Memorial Pulls; and a Draft Horse and Pony Show.
Saturday’s scheduled events include a pig scramble; farmer’s horse and ox pulls; MSTTP Truck Pulls; magic from Wes Wonder; a Kids Ox Pull; musical performances by 43 Degrees North, Dark Horse, Chase Jobe, Timothy James & Band, and Julia Gagnon & Friends; comedy juggling and dangerous stunts by Showtime Steve; and the fair concludes with a spectacular fireworks show around 8:30 p.m. by Central Maine Pyrotechnics.
Also on Saturday, fair visitors can watch a Rabbit show, view cooking and crafts demonstrations; farmer’s draft horse, mule and pony events, draft horse log twitches, a calf scramble, 4-H dairy and working steer shows, a youth poultry show, Quilts of Valor presentations, Sheep, Dairy, Swine, Goat and Beef livestock showings, antique sawmill demonstrations, midway carnival rides, booths, vendors, tours of the maple sugar house, and lots of tasty food to experience.
Visitors can stroll through exhibition barns filled with blue-ribbon vegetables, flowers, crafts and pies, cakes and other baked goods, and award-winning locally grown huge pumpkins. Or they can see up close the John Deere display of the latest models of tractors.
Theodore Googins of Gray is this year’s fair president with Lincoln Merrill of North Yarmouth as vice president and Jeff Steinman of Cumberland serving as vice president and treasurer. Elizabeth Tarantino of Cumberland is fair secretary, Mark Cooper, Sonja Nielsen and Richard Morrill, all of Windham, are serving on the fair’s Board of Directors with Cooper also overseeing the fair’s livestock area.
Admission to the 154th Cumberland County Fair is $15 cash for adults with kids ages 12 and under admitted for free.
The fairgrounds are located at 196 Blanchard Road in Cumberland. Plenty of convenient free parking is available.
To learn more about the 154th Cumberland County Fair and view a complete schedule of events visit https://cumberlandfair.com/ or find them on Facebook under Cumberland Fair. <
