Tickets for the 45th annual Common Ground Country Fair are on sale. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association event is scheduled to take place Sept. 24-26 in Unity.
“We are looking forward to supporting a safe and healthy event in person this year,” said April Boucher, the fair’s director, according to a news release from the association. “In order to facilitate a safe event we are asking all fairgoers to purchase tickets in advance of arriving at the gates to minimize congestion and lines, and so that we can cap attendance at a number that supports social distancing.”
The events and layout of the fair have been reworked to reduce congestion and long lines, and increased sanitization will be in place. The fair will still feature hundreds of exhibitors and activities centered around sustainable living, from fiber arts to green building, live music, children’s activities, and organic foods from around Maine.
Adding to the fair’s draw is its setting. MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center, which doubles as the fairgrounds, includes a sustainably managed woodlot as well as organic orchards and demonstration gardens. This landscape provides a backdrop for demonstrations on low-impact forestry, organic farming and gardening, livestock management and other aspects of rural living to take place during the fair.
Keynote speakers will include Karen Washington, co-owner and farmer at Rise & Root Farm and co-founder of Black Urban Growers; Amara Ifeji, a 19-year-old climate justice activist; and Stacy Brenner, an organic farmer and state senator, will address food justice issues, including food security, climate change, land justice and farmworker rights.
Tickets for the event are available at mofga.org. Fairgoers will receive their tickets via email, and can download them to a smart phone or print them out to be scanned at the gate. Fairgoers who do not have access to the internet can purchase tickets over the phone by calling 207-568-6049 during business hours on Wednesdays.
Advance pricing, available until Sept. 22, is as follows: adults 18-64, $14; elders 65 and older, $10; youth 13-17, $10; children 12 and younger, free daily; and persons with disabilities, free daily for them and an attending person.
School groups are free on Friday, Sept. 24, and volunteers receive free admission for the day of their four-hour volunteer shift, plus a Common Ground Country Fair T-shirt and other benefits.
MOFGA members receive complimentary fair tickets based on membership level. All tickets must be reserved in advance, including free tickets.
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