Introduction

        They came in horsedrawn vehicles, sometimes riding and sometimes leading their livestock, and the journey took many hours, undertaken as soon as the morning chores were done, in the "old days" of Fryeburg Fair.
        Later, the railroad came, swelling attendance at the much-anticipated event, and a period when fairgoers could journey to the fair from town on Fryeburg's horse drawn railroad.
        Men of over a century ago put their money where their mouths were, gambling on a venturea nonprofit venture; which would benefit the agricultural community that was West Oxford County of the Pine Tree State and reach out to nearby New Hampshire as well. Little did those long-ago citizens realize that the fair they conceived and sponsored would steadily grow in size, scope, and duration, from a one-day exhibit to eight days of jam-packed excitement.
        How those long-ago overalled farmers (no status labels on their rumps!) and petticoated, sunbonnet wearing farm wives would marvel, could they attend Fryeburg Fair in the year 2000!
        The first so-called "permanent" site of the Fair was a parcel of land no bigger than the portion now occupied by the Fair's midway! Now over 180 acres, on both sides of Route 5 about a mile outside the village area, are available to the West Oxford Agricultural Society's annual event.
        "One hundred and fifty; whew! That's a long time," someone is bound to remark, seeing the proud sign at the main gate of the fairgrounds, but then the crowds, the sights, the smells, the sounds; the overall excitement will take over, for who can dwell on the past, when the present is so enticing?
(From "Fryeburg Fair From Day One" by Janet Hounsell)