The Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle is prepped and ready for the 164th rendition, which will run from July 27 through August 4.

The Northern Maine Fair has a strong fair history. It was incorporated July 16, 1850, and the first exhibition was held October 9, 1851. The Northern Maine Fair has been held once each year since its early beginning except during the Second World War when the United States Government had the grounds leased for housing purposes.

Many different activities, including a midway with rides and games, musicians and lots of food, are scheduled all through “Fair week,” and an agricultural focus draws many visitors to the Fair grounds to catch all the exhibits and related events. The annual 4-H baby beef competition and auction is always popular, as is the several nights of horse racing held in front of the grandstand.

The focus on agriculture led the Fair board recently to incorporate a special learning activity for children – and it is well worth traveling to the Presque Isle fair to share with your children!

Titled Lil’ Farmer’s Exhibit, this is how it works… Children go from barn to barn among 10 stops to experience a day on a farm. First, they are provided with an apron and a basket. In the grain barn, they pick up oats and corn which they dump into the feed trough in the next barn, where Daisy the cow waits to be milked.

In the chicken barn, hens look from their nests onto a row of wooden eggs from which the children collect one for their baskets. In the sheep barn, they learn how wool is made into clothing and collect a bag of wool for their basket. All the animals and products are make-believe replicas of real animals and farm produce.

The children pick an apple for their baskets from a wooden tree on their way to the potato house where they learn to size and bag potatoes before picking a potato to sell at the farmer’s market. At the last stop before the market, they prepare soil, plant and water seeds and harvest vegetables in a vegetable garden.

The children then “sell” the items they have collected in their baskets at a farmer’s market in exchange for a “Lil’ Farmer’s Dollar” which they can spend on real food at the simulated grocery store. They turn in their aprons and baskets and use their make-believe dollar to buy a healthy snack from items donated by local grocers. The experience is very popular with children and their parents. It is staffed all week by rotating volunteers from various civic organizations such as Kiwanis and Rotary and other community groups. The volunteer “farmer” hosts get as much fun from the activity as do the children! And its educational benefit to children is very timely with today’s focus on farm to table healthy eating.

Mark your calendar and plan to be in Aroostook County in late July, early August to attend the Northern Maine Fair, enjoy the potato blossoms, and just take a deep breath…that’s clean Aroostook County air and blue skies!