HARMONY — The Harmony Free Fair will open on Friday, Aug. 30, with four days of fun for all ages at 1 Fairway Lane. As it has been for 72 years, admission to the fair is free, and so is parking. Hours will be Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Monday 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to a news release from fair organizers.
Once again, the Harmony Volunteer Fire Department will offer its must-have dough boys in the booth next to the food pavilion. There will be some new food items too, and more picnic tables have been added to the area in front of the booth.
This year, a wide range of demonstrations will take place during the fair. Black-smithing, wood carving, herb drying (11 a.m. Saturday), weed walks, and much more will entertain and enlighten. Information on events in the Fiber Arts Barn will be posted on the building. The Reptile Guy will be back this year in a building between the food pavilion and the fiber barn.
The fair gets started on Friday night, Aug. 30, with the always popular Truck Pull. Admission is $3 for spectators.
A new event, Open Ox Pulling, will be held Saturday afternoon, Aug. 31. It will include “gentle giants”and will be held in the Livestock Arena. A returning favorite, the Farmers Oxen and Draft Horse Event, will be held Sunday morning and will include a class for children 16 and younger.
Also Saturday afternoon is the Demolition Derby, featuring three classes. Spectator admission is $5, and a food booth in the area will offer plenty of refreshments.
On Sunday and Monday, Sept. 1 and 2, there will be a variety of children’s contests. Such games as an egg toss, pie-eating contest, frog-jumping contest (held in the Outback Arena), and much more offer entertainment for all. There are even games for adults, such as corn hole toss, spaghetti-eating contest, and a salsa-chugging event, and of course, the women’s skillet throw and men’s hammer toss. Registration sheets will be available at the prize ticket booth.
While at the prize ticket booth, fairgoers can purchase tickets for drawings held at the end of the fair. The grand prize is a Husqvarna 450 chain saw donated by Morrison Forest Products Inc. Additionally, more than 40 prizes will be available to ticket holders, who need not be present to win.
More information on fair events is included in the fair program book and brochures, which were distributed to program book advertisers about two weeks prior to the fair. Books are available in Harmony at C & R General Store and Morrison’s Garage.
Presented by Central Maine Pyrotechnics, Sunday evening’s fireworks show is highly anticipated and fun to watch. After the fireworks, the Aliza Jean Family Cancer Foundation will hold a remembrance celebration. This year, luminaries will be lit in memory of loved ones. They can be purchased during the fair and will be lit for those who cannot attend. All proceeds from this event go directly to families in this area who have a child fighting cancer.
A wide variety of music — all free — takes place during the fair. The Friday Night Jammers take the stage at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30. Weekend entertainment continues with the Tyler Healy Band and The Honkeytonkers on Saturday. The very popular Talent Contest has moved to Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Five-hundred dollars in cash prizes will be awarded to youths and adults.
Sunday morning’s new event is a gospel hour at 9 a.m., followed by children’s music by Rob Duquette at noon and 1:30 p.m. Also for children, Conjuring Carroll will be back with balloon animals and more. EP Rock, sponsored by C & R General Store, will return in the tent at 2 p.m. On the big stage, John Whitman and the Southwind Band will perform, and at 7 p.m. Fire & Ice round out Sunday’s music program.
Monday features a wide variety of events after the 9:30 a.m. parade marches through downtown Harmony. Dakota will play on the big stage after the parade, followed by Wildwood and, at 4 p.m., another newcomer to the fair, Debbie Myers.
A new event has been added to the Tractor Rodeo Games — it is called “backing up a wagon” and promises a challenge for drivers and fun for the audience. It will be held on the pulling track.
A popular event on Monday afternoon, Sept. 2, is the conclusion of the Bike Contest. During the fair, children 5 to 14 can enter the contest by answering an agricultural question at the prize ticket booth near the main gate. Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., 30 names will be drawn and each winner will receive a new bicycle. One important note — the child must be present to win.
The Harmony Labor Day Free Fair is sponsored by the Harmony Patriarchs Club. Since its inception in 1947, the club has been a nonprofit all-volunteer organization devoted to community betterment. Current projects include scholarships for Harmony students, maintaining the flags around Harmony, sponsoring the Harmony Cares food pantry, and much more. Harmony Free Fair is proud to be a member of the Maine Association of Agricultural Fairs, an organization that has been representing and promoting Maine agricultural fairs since 1912, according to the release.
The Harmony Labor Day Free Fair offers something for everyone, from a youth livestock show to games and contests to a farmers oxen & draft horse event to an exhibition hall full of local crafts and produce. One thing that does not change from year to year is the friendly old-fashioned down-home atmosphere at the fair, only slightly tempered by modern regulations. Fair organizers state that, for the health and safety of all, four-legged friends must be left at home. Service animals are the only non-exhibit animals allowed on the fairgrounds. And, of course, alcohol is not permitted anywhere on the fairgrounds.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday, Aug. 30
4-7 p.m. — Submit Entries in Exhibition Hall
5 p.m. — Midway Opens brought to you by Kavanaugh Amusements
6 p.m. — Music by Friday Night Jammers on the big stage
7 p.m. — Truck Pull starts. Registration at 5 p.m. Admission $3.
7 p.m. — Cribbage Tournament — Singles in the tent
Saturday, Aug. 31
9 a.m. — John & Pat Morrison Memorial Race/Walk (Registration at 8 a.m.)
9 a.m. — Volleyball Tournament
10 a.m. — Youth Livestock Show. Registration 9 a.m.
10 a.m. — Weed Walk – Michael & Michele Cabral
11 a.m. — Herb Drying – Michael & Michele Cabral
11 a.m. — Midway opens
Noon — Music by the Tyler Healy Band on the big stage
Noon — Weed Walk – Michael & Michele Cabral
1 p.m. — Demolition Derby. Registration 9 to 11:30 a.m. Admission $5.
1 p.m. — Mushroom Demonstrations – Steve Duffy
1 p.m. — Border Collie Demonstration (1 of 3)
1 p.m. — Exhibition Hall opens
2 p.m. — Fermentation Demonstration – Steve Duffy
2:30 p.m. — Talent Show on the big stage
3 p.m. — Border Collie Demonstration (2 of 3)
3 p.m. — Open Ox Pulling. Weigh in at 9 a.m.
4 p.m. — Pie Auction on the big stage
5 p.m. — Border Collie Demonstration (3 of 3)
7 p.m. — Music by The Honkeytonkers on the big stage
7 p.m. — Cribbage Tournament — Doubles in the tent.
Sunday, Sept. 1 — Children’s Day — sign up for contests at prize ticket booth, locations to be determined
9 a.m. — Gospel Hour
10 a.m. — Exhibition Hall opens
10 a.m. — Farmers Oxen and Draft Horse Event -weigh in at 8 a.m. in the
livestock arena
10:30 a.m. — Horseshoe Tournament begins. Registration 10 a.m.
11 a.m. — Children’s Egg Toss
11 a.m. — Adult Corn Hole Toss Contest
Noon — Midway opens
Noon — Children’s Music by Rob Duquette on the big stage
12:30 p.m. — Magic Show by Conjuring Carroll in the tent
1 p.m. — Children’s Pie Eating Contest
1:30 p.m. — Frog Jumping Contest (BYOF) at the Outback Arena
1:30 p.m. — Children’s Music by Rob Duquette on the big stage
2 p.m. — Music by EP Rock-Elvis impersonator sponsored by C&R General
Store-in the tent
2 p.m. — Adult Spaghetti Eating Contest
2:30 p.m. — Children’s 3-Legged Race
3 p.m. — Magic Show by Conjuring Carroll on the small stage
3 p.m. — Music by John Whitman Sr. and the Southwind Band on the big stage
3:30 p.m. — Children’s Spaghetti Eating Contest
3:30 p.m. — Adult Salsa Chugging Contest
3:30 p.m. — Doodlebug Pull on the pulling track. Registration at 2:30 p.m.
4 p.m. — Pig Scramble (Registration 3 to 3:45 p.m.)
6 p.m. — Children’s Ice Cream Eating Contest
6:30 p.m. — Children’s Arm Wrestling in the tent. Registration at 5:30 p.m.
7 p.m. — Adult Arm Wrestling in the tent. Registration at 5:30 p.m.
7 p.m. — Music by Fire & Ice on the big stage
Dark — Fireworks by Central Maine Pyrotechnics. Sponsored by Patriarchs
Club, Town of Harmony, Kavanaugh Amusements, and Central Maine Pyrotechnics
After fireworks — Liza’s Lights of Love remembrance celebration
Monday, Sept. 2
9:30 a.m. Labor Day Parade — preregistration recommended. Line up at 8:30 a.m.
After Parade — Midway Opens
After Parade — Exhibition Hall opens
After Parade — Antique Cars (at the Pulling Track)
After Parade — Parade awards on stage and posted at prize ticket booth
After Parade — Horseshoe Tournament registration/play
After Parade — Music by Dakota on the big stage
10:30 a.m. — Children’s Cookie Stacking Contest
11 a.m. — Children’s Egg Toss Contest
11 a.m. — Horse Show in the livestock arena
11:30 a.m. — Tractor Rodeo on the pulling track
11:30 a.m. — Magic Show Conjuring Carroll in the tent
Noon — Adult Toilet Seat Toss Contest
12:30 p.m. — Children’s Potato Sack Races
1 p.m. — Music by Wildwood on the big stage
1 p.m. — Adult Hot Dog Eating Contest
1 p.m. — Magic Show Conjuring Carroll in the tent
2 p.m. — Adult Ice Cream Eating Contest
2:30 p.m. — Children’s Lemonade Drinking Contest
3 p.m. — Bike Contest winners drawn on the big stage. Must be present to win.
3 p.m. — Women’s Skillet Throw
3 p.m. — Adult Lemonade Drinking Contest
4 p.m. — Music by Debbie Myers on the big stage
4 p.m. — Men’s Hammer Throw
4 p.m. — Exhibition Hall closes (all items must be removed between 4 and 6 p.m.)
7 p.m. — Prize Drawings
Grand Prize: Husqvarna 450 Chain Saw donated by Morrison’s Forest Products Inc. must be picked up by Dec. 31.
More than 40 other prizes will be awarded and will be on display at the ticket booth during the fair.
Winners do not have to be present.
Ongoing during the fair
Friday, Saturday and Sunday — The Lizard Guy, Scott Libby
Every day — Blacksmith demonstration, Wood Carver demonstration, Beekeeping
Fiber Arts Barn — check sign on building
For more information, call the fair office at 683-2084, check its Facebook page – Harmony Free Fair, or its website harmonyfreefair.weebly.com.
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