Houlton Fair Association gearing up for annual July 4 celebration

HOULTON, Maine — Plans are quickly shaping up for the 2011 Houlton Agricultural Fair set for Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4 at Houlton’s Community Park.
The fair schedules are in the process of being printed and are expected to hit the streets Wednesday (today) in the greater Houlton area, according to Fair President Paul Cleary. The complete schedule can also be found online at www.houltonfair.com.
    “We usually average about 15,000 people over the four days of the fair,” Cleary said. “Due to the poor weather the past few years, we have been down to about 12,000 to 13,000. This year, we should be pretty good since it falls on a Friday through Monday schedule. Now we just pray for good weather.”
Admission will be $10 per person, regardless of age, which includes all of the midway rides.
“For the fourth year in a row, our prices have stayed the same,” Cleary said. “And it includes the rides.”
Once again, the fair association will be offering advance passes in the form of a four-coupon booklet good for any one day. These booklets are available in two styles — with rides ($30) and without rides ($20).
“The advance passes did really well last year, much better than we expected,” Cleary said. “In the past, we did a photo pass, which was specific to just one person.”
Coupon booklets will only be sold until June 18 and are available at York’s Book Store, Aroostook Milling, the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce and on the fair’s website.
Cleary has been a member of the Fair Association for the past 13 years, and president for the past five years.
Friday, July 1, will be “Kid’s Day,” with the Fair gates opening at 8 a.m. Among the many events slated for the first day are Hula Hoop contests, a children’s cooking contest, ice cream eating contest, pig scramble, Oreo stacking contest, bubble gum blowing contest and an ATV drag racing competition.
Saturday, July 2 will feature the ever-popular demolition derby event. Last year, the derby drew 5,800 people to Community Park.
“It was the biggest derby day we have ever had,” Cleary said.
For the first time in four year, truck pulls will be returning to the fair. The event highlights Sunday’s activities. Sunday, July 3, will also be “Prize Giveaway” day with a number of concert, NASCAR and Boston Red Sox tickets up for grabs. A chicken barbecue will also be held that day.
Given his tenure with the group, Cleary said he has a pretty good handle on what events work and which ones do not.
“Motor sports events and your carnival rides are the biggest draws,” Cleary said. “Younger adults, ages 17-21, are attracted to the adult rides. Older people tend to enjoy the mud runs and truck pulls and demolition derby.”
New acts people can expect to find include the Indian River Old Towne Lumberjack Show, featuring traditional lumberman’s competition such as wood chopping, chainsaw carving, ax throwing, and log rolling; Marriage By Knives, a husband and wife knife-throwing act; and Alexandria the Great, a female escape artist.
Children’s games will be plentiful once again and according to Cleary, the fair has been recognized as one of the best fairs in the state for this catering to the younger crowd.
“We have more kids games than most of the fairs in the state,” he said.
One type of entertainment that has been discontinued by the fair is concerts featuring known acts. Cleary said these types of acts were dropped from the fair offering because they simply did not generate enough revenue to cover costs. Instead, the fair has focused its efforts on showcasing the musical talents of local bands.
“People don’t realize how much money these acts cost,” Cleary said. “They range in price from $25,000 to $400,000. Any artist you buy, you have to double your expenses for things like staging and lights. We did concerts for nine years in a row. We made money on just two of those concerts. They are a draw, but the cost is too great.”
Cleary said the largest concert draw, during his time with the fair, was the Blackhawk show, which drew 8,000 people, but even then the fair only grossed about $21,000 after expenses.
Local bands “Curbside Prophet,” “Doubletap” and “Wally and the Virginians” will be featured this year.
As an Agricultural Fair, there will naturally be plenty of livestock and animal displays with 4-H on all four days of the fair.
Last year, Fair organizers introduced two fireworks shows as a way to lure more people to Community Park. Unfortunately, rain dampened the fireworks on the first showing.
“This year, we are working on having our first fireworks show on Friday, July 1, downtown in conjunction with Midnight Madness,” Cleary said. “It would be right over the water, but we need to get approval to do it obviously. It’s better to work together with the Chamber than trying to compete for people’s attention.”
About 12 directors on the fair board, along with 60 volunteers, help put the event on each year, Cleary said.
“We won an award last year for having one of the youngest fair boards and youngest group of volunteers in the state of Maine,” he said. “We have a great mix of people who are all part of the fair. We are always looking for new board members.”
Anyone interested in volunteering their time at the fair can contact Cleary through the fair’s website by e-mailing houltonfair@earthlink.net.
A look back at the Fair’s history
The Houlton Agricultural Fair has a very old history dating back to 1848 when the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Society held their first fair in Houlton. Historical data reveals that this fair went on for many years. There were at least three fairgrounds/trotting parks in Houlton, including one where the Houlton Regional Hospital now sits and one in the area of the Congregational Church on High Street. The event eventually found a home in Community Park.
In the early 1900’s, a group of 10 men, who were involved in the Fair, purchased the land where Community Park is and down all the way to Pleasant Street. This group in turn, sold the property to the Fair Association, who continued to run the fair until the 1920s. From then on, the fair’s history is spotty as there were some years they did not have the fair. In the mid-1940s the fair sold its property to the town of Houlton for a dollar and other valuable considerations.
When the Houlton Fair “restarted” again, in 1987, it started with a few thousand people attending the exhibits, contests, competitions and entertainment. To become a licensed state Agricultural Fair, a group must apply to the state for fair dates to run their event. The state then gives the group the criteria it will be evaluated on for each of the three provisional years. At the end of the trial period, after meeting all the requirements, the event was awarded a license to operate.
The original Board of Directors of the Houlton Agricultural Fair was made up of Lona Putnam, Kathie Stubbs, Dr. Patrick Coville, Michael Scott, Lynn York, Lawrence Horten and Scott Austin.