SKOWHEGAN — There is the Churchill roughneck cow. The buff Orpington chicken. The royal palm turkey. The Romney sheep.
And yes, even the Austrian performance tumbler and the Greek nose diver — those are pigeons, in case you did not know.
While the demolition derbies, tractor pulls and midway attractions play their part in drawing thousands year after year to the Skowhegan State Fair, the hundreds of animals on display and in competition keep the fair’s agricultural spirit alive more than 200 years after the fair began.
Bob Payson of Pownal, second from left, and others focus Sunday on the action during the antique tractor pulling competition at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Fairgoers walk through the poultry barn Sunday at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
“I’ve done it my whole life,” said Michael Lane of Shady Lane Farm in New Vineyard, who was sitting Sunday next to 12 of his family’s dairy cows at the fair’s cattle barn. “It’s like another whole family at the fair.”
The Skowhegan State Fair, which kicked off last Thursday and ends its 10-day run this Saturday at 33 Constitution Ave., has long been an agriculture-focused gathering for farmers across the region. Now in its 206th year, the fair is the oldest consecutively running agricultural fair in the country and draws about 100,000 visitors in a typical year, according to organizers.
First organized by the Somerset Central Agricultural Society, the fair in its early days — before Maine became a state in 1820 — became a place where farmers could learn about the latest techniques, find out about new equipment available and work to improve the breeding of livestock, according to a history published on the fair’s website — skowheganstatefair.com.
The fair now features dozens of livestock shows, offering premiums to the winners in each category. Animals figure into other attractions, including harness racing and the performing pigs of the “Pork Chop Revue” highlighting this year’s midway entertainment.
Lane, 68, said he has been coming to the Skowhegan State Fair, along with his twin brother, since he was 8 years old.
Elephants fly Sunday as fairgoers of all ages ride the Dumbo ride at the midway at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
At one point, Lane would travel to 23 shows each year, as far away as Canada and Kentucky, he said. Now, he has scaled back, heading yearly to Maine’s major fairs, including those in Windsor, Farmington and Fryeburg.
Lane’s nieces, nephews and other family members are each responsible for some aspect of the farm and its animals, he said. This year, the family brought cows, pigs, sheep and a petting zoo.
“We still help,” Lane said. “But it’s their stuff now.”
Younger generations of farmers were working across the fair’s barns and pens Sunday morning, well before the afternoon crowd arrived for the rides, harness racing and an evening country music show.
Emerson Chase, 11, of Norridgewock cares Sunday for Miss Kitty, a miniature Paint horse, before showing the horse during the Fancy and Fun Miniature Horse Show at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Emily Folsom of Wiscasset focuses on her pull Sunday as she steers her 1940s-era Massey-Harris tractor during the antique tractor pulling competition at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Thomas Fortier, 15, of Farmington was working with family members to clip the wool of a Romney sheep.
Fortier, who is part of the third generation at his family’s Spider Web Farm in Farmington, said his family had eight sheep they were preparing to show Wednesday and Friday.
“They’re kind of laid back, you could say,” he said of the wooly animals.
Nearby, Charlotte Choate, 13, of Farmingdale was working with her friend, Lindsey McGee, 14, of West Gardiner to clip one of Choate’s family’s Southdown sheep.
Her family’s farm, WKC Livestock in Farmingdale, has 15 to 20 sheep at the fair this week to be entered into shows, Choate said.
Choate said she has fun showing the animals in competition. She often fields questions from those who come to the fair and look at the sheep, but might not know much about livestock.
“Some people ask, ‘What do you do?’ ‘Does it hurt the sheep?’” Choate said.
For Meg Kelley, “just kind of educating the public on where their food comes from and seeing it from start to finish” is most important during the fair.
Charlotte Choate, 13, right, of Farmingdale clips her Southdown sheep as Lindsey McGee, 14 of West Gardiner assists at the Skowhegan State Fair at 33 Constitution Ave. Choate says she is preparing 12 sheep to show at the fair. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Kelley, who is also the fair’s assistant livestock superintendent and works for the state’s meat and poultry inspection program, was tending Sunday to brown Swiss and Guernsey dairy cows from Dead End Farm in Wilton.
As the ninth generation of farmers in her family, Kelley said she grew up working with livestock and enjoys sharing her knowledge with those who come to look at the cows.
“It’s satisfying to be able to educate them,” she said.