Next week, we will be exploring more of Hiram, but this week we are focusing on one of the town’s biggest events – the Ossipee Valley Fair!

Despite the name, the Ossipee Valley Fair is held in Hiram, Maine – not Ossipee, New Hampshire. It has been a local summer tradition since 1980 and describes itself as “Maine’s Friendliest Fair.” It is also an all-volunteer operation focused on celebrating agriculture, rural living and the people who keep those traditions going.

Unfortunately, the Ossipee Valley Fair has a very short run. It takes place for only four days each July, and not one of those days happened to be one of my days off this year. Of course.

Luckily, I managed to sneak out of work a little early one afternoon, and Miles and I headed up to see how much fair fun we could squeeze into one evening.

The Ossipee Valley Fair is definitely on the smaller side, but it was busy when we arrived. Parking is located right on the fairgrounds and is included with admission, which is always a nice surprise. No paying an extra $10 to park in somebody’s field half a mile away!

We started by wandering around the grounds and visiting the animals. The fair includes all the country-fair favorites – goats, sheep, rabbits, cows, chickens, pigs, steers and oxen – along with 4-H events, pulling competitions, exhibits, rides and other entertainment.

My favorites were the newborn goats.

They were so tiny! I probably could have stood there watching them all night, but apparently there were other things at the fair that Miles wanted to see.

There were not many horses hanging around the regular animal areas. Most of the ones we saw were the huge draft horses competing in the pulling events. They were beautiful, but there was no mistaking that they were there to work.

We also stopped to watch the pig-calling contest, which was every bit as funny as it sounds.

The kids sat at one end of the arena holding Oreo cookies and tried to convince their piglets to run across to them. Some of the pigs understood the assignment. One little piglet was not impressed with the game at all and just wandered around the arena doing whatever it wanted.

Honestly, I respected that.

The real star of the night, though, was the Farmer’s Olympics.

They were looking for enough people to put together another team, and for a brief moment, Miles and I considered volunteering.

Thankfully, we came to our senses.

Once the competition started, we were very glad to be safely sitting in the audience. The Farmer’s Olympics included a variety of ridiculous relay-style games, including a blindfolded wheelbarrow race. It was chaotic, hilarious and probably much more fun to watch than it would have been to participate in.

I took several videos that I am uploading to our YouTube channel, so be sure to check those out. You really need to see some of these events in action to fully appreciate them.

Of course, we also needed fair food.

We grabbed some Steve’s Fries to eat while watching the Olympics. In my opinion, Steve’s has some of the best fair fries around – and they are gluten-free!

The fries are skinny, perfectly crispy and actually affordable compared to some of the other food at the fair. Fair food prices can get a little scary, so finding something delicious that does not require taking out a small loan is always a win.

We were starting to run out of steam before the Farmer’s Olympics were completely finished, so we headed out a little early. We stopped for ice cream on the way home because ice cream is obviously the correct way to end a summer night at the fair.

Our visit may have been quick, but I am glad we managed to make it happen. The Ossipee Valley Fair might be small, but it had everything we needed for a fun evening – tiny goats, uncooperative piglets, crispy fries and grown adults attempting relay races while blindfolded.

Next week, we will head back to Hiram and explore more of what the town has to offer!