Common Ground fair 2022

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by svband76

What is the appeal of the Common Ground Fair? What makes it different from any other fair? Sorry. A newbie Mainer from away here... thanks.

The Common Ground Fair does not allow any carnival rides, no roller coasters, no ferris wheels.

All food must be Certified Organic and Maine grown.

They make an exception for coffee. MOFGA has a relationship with a community in El Salvador, so that one community is allowed to import their Certified Organic coffee onto the fair grounds.

What first drew my attention to the Common Ground Fair was the workshops. All day long there are hour-long workshops with a topic expert teaching a skill. It might be poultry health, or solar power design, or septic systems, foraging wild mushrooms, or making herbal medicines from wild flowers, the list is incredibly long.

Normally the Common Ground Fair presents 750+ workshops each year.

For the first ten years that I was attending [2005 until about 2015], I would get the schedule two weeks early, and I would plan out my days hour-by-hour, which workshops I wanted to attend. For five or six years, I would even post a thread here on City-Data, laying out my plan for each day, and asking what workshops other posters wanted to attend. Some of us used to meet-up at the fair.

At one time, there was a group of posters here who all attended the Common Ground Fair.

If a person were to migrate to Maine, with the intention of living off-grid, out in the forest, and self-sufficient, the Common Ground fair is an annual meeting for those like-minded hippies.

Or if you live in any of the long established communes, the Common Ground fair serves as their convention.

In 2012 [or so] my Dw and I began presenting at the fair, then in 2018 we were talked into volunteering to serve on some of the committees that plan and host the fair.

[svband76]

Originally Posted by Submariner

The Common Ground Fair does not allow any carnival rides, no roller coasters, no ferris wheels.

All food must be Certified Organic and Maine grown.

They make an exception for coffee. MOFGA has a relationship with a community in El Salvador, so that one community is allowed to import their Certified Organic coffee onto the fair grounds.

What first drew my attention to the Common Ground Fair was the workshops. All day long there are hour-long workshops with a topic expert teaching a skill. It might be poultry health, or solar power design, or septic systems, foraging wild mushrooms, or making herbal medicines from wild flowers, the list is incredibly long.

Normally the Common Ground Fair presents 750+ workshops each year.

For the first ten years that I was attending [2005 until about 2015], I would get the schedule two weeks early, and I would plan out my days hour-by-hour, which workshops I wanted to attend. For five or six years, I would even post a thread here on City-Data, laying out my plan for each day, and asking what workshops other posters wanted to attend. Some of us used to meet-up at the fair.

At one time, there was a group of posters here who all attended the Common Ground Fair.

If a person were to migrate to Maine, with the intention of living off-grid, out in the forest, and self-sufficient, the Common Ground fair is an annual meeting for those like-minded hippies.

Or if you live in any of the long established communes, the Common Ground fair serves as their convention.

In 2012 [or so] my Dw and I began presenting at the fair, then in 2018 we were talked into volunteering to serve on some of the committees that plan and host the fair.

Thank you for the explanation. So Common happens at the same fairgrounds as the Union Fair (in Unity) during the summer? I've been to that and it was the best fair I've ever attended. I love harness racing, as well as history. There was an old school house and the Moxie museum. All quiet interesting. Common Ground sounds like the same.

[Mike Mc]

Terribly late to be updating a thread, but the last poster made a glaring error. The Union fair is in Union, Maine, but the Common Ground Fair is in Unity. Entirely different town, 35 miles apart. I would not want you to drive to Union for the Common Ground Fair, you'd be sorely disappointed!

[Submariner]

The MOFGA fairgrounds actually straddle the town line, half in Unity and half in Thorndyke.

For anyone interested MOFGA also hosts an event Farm & Homestead day, on 10 June 2023. This is also an annual event. It is only one day and it is much smaller. The focus is on hands-on skills workshops. I usually present a workshop on capturing wild yeast spores for making sourdough breads, in accordance with the Exodus and Leviticus dietary laws.

They also host the annual Seed Swap & Scion Exchange, I think this year is the 40th anniversary 'Seed Swap & Scion Exchange' event. It is usually scheduled for the last weekend of March, but this year it was postponed to 2 April [due to a predicted snowstorm, for today]. Local farmers bring in and share seeds that they have saved, as well as fruitwood scions for people with fruit & nut orchards.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

Interesting. Thanks for the behind the scenes info.

I should have added: I am more than a little claustrophobic, and nothing sends me into a panic attack quicker than being stuck in a crowd. What other people might find loads of fun (night clubs, concerts, packed fairs) are torture to me. I recognize I am the anomaly.

I'd definitely like to try again next year, but I am going to time my arrival better to hopefully avoid the worst of the crowds. We went in the middle of the day on a Saturday, which in hindsight was a colossally stupid decision on my part.

I coordinate the Outdoor Demonstration Kitchen, most of the time, between presenters and food judging, my tent is empty except for 80 chairs. If you feel the crowd is closing in on you, you are welcome to come into my tent and sit down.

[Mark S.]

Went again this year --- this time on a cool, overcast Sunday afternoon. It was still crowded, but much more tolerable than last year. Great fair this year. Enjoyed it a lot.

News alert: The mullet is making a comeback.